In My Dream [Kizuna, Komugi, Ranma]

Just as his Enkōsen broke apart, leaving nothing between his frame and the burning Gran R- or whatever she called it, Ray Arc or something – he felt a heavy force knock his sorry ass across the air, narrowly escaping certain immolation.

Instead of jarring heat on his skin, he felt both the aching of such a rapid impact and… ouch, something was stinging on his shoulder, akin to Armina’s ice. It sent a shiver down his spine, making him think that somehow, it was that psycho-nut who’d saved him from that Cero… oh wait, it was Komu! I mean, it was Komugi! Neat!

“E-Eh- oh, phew…” he sighed in relief once the cold flames were patted off. Shit was getting out of hand now – their enemy had Ceros and fuel for days, and a mere Enkōsen wasn’t going to block that. Komugi had a similar idea of the enemy’s strength with those terrifying Ceros, so… fuck, what now? He needed to think of something, but this wasn’t exactly the ideal place to think calmly about shit. Not when that Arrancar’s Spiritual Pressure kept rising far above them.

“…” Think, think, THINK!

“… I tried to slow her down – slow time stuff. It doesn’t last long, problem is; her Ceros are fast as hell. If I could catch her attention for a moment, then you-“

Oh fucking deer shit… it looked like red stars in the sky as each pylon lit up, finishing their charging waves of Ceros that were about to rain down in them like a meteor shower. An Enkōsen at this time would prove Ranma hadn’t learned anything – what would Hinamori-sensei say to him if she saw him in his current predicament? Constantly taking a beating like this, desperately clinging to the life he wanted to live, so he could run back to Eri-

Wait… there was another Bakudō he could try. The one Erica tried to manipulate back when they were training together. Okay, okay! All or fall!

“Bakudō #81…” Ranma chanted, raising both hands up in the air as he stood close to Komugi, his arms shaking as the rain of Ceros were coming down upon the battlefield, “Dankū!”

The screen turned bright and crimson – one could be fooled to think it turned into all the colors of the rainbow, but it was merely the effects of the Arrancar’s blasts hitting and wearing down a translucent barrier raised above Ranma’s palms. Rectangular in shape, this wall of Reishi kept suffering holes, and Ranma kept pouring more of his spiritual energy into it to prevent the blasts from harming him and Komugi. Not only were her Ceros fast and numerous, but also potent as fuck. He wasn’t confident enough to dodge them nor tank them head-on, so… this was his best option yet.

He'd always been… afraid that he’d end up blowing something up in his face by using the much higher-leveled spells. But right now, that lack of confidence would’ve gotten him killed – he just had to put his fears aside and go higher. That was when it clicked in him… there might have been something that could rival her Cero, if only for a little bit. “W-When does this shit end…?!” he groaned in pain, his palms quickly reddening up from the sheer heat of the Arrancar's Ceros permeating through his barrier. Some damn firepower those had. He bet that Hinamori-sensei could've blocked these blasts with her Dankū easy-peasy.

The hairs along her back were stiff, holding the young man close to her as she kept her attention on their surroundings as she tried desperately to get a grasp on the situation, the flames on her body frequently fluctuating in size along with her emotions as she tried to keep herself level. The prickle on her skin reacted to the sensation of something big on the way as Ranma spoke, her gaze looking over along his as she saw lights in the sky, her ears pinning back as she was about to say a expletive so bad it'd warrant an aunt beating, grab him and run again before she heard him chant...

"WAIT YOU'RE A KIDO USER!" She'd exclaim as the barrier expanded to protect them from the blasts, and given it didn't immediately cave from the incoming rain of Cero, it gave a little hope for the situation. No time to gawk, she lunged for his arm as soon as the incoming night dimmed back down, running and dragging him along whether he could efficiently keep up or not, ensuring they ran to whatever cover was available as they'd rotate the area, "Okay, walk and talk, no stopping - you can use Kido, but you aren't fast enough.. Okay, okay... But I am fast enough. Those thingies floatin' above her head seem to be what's letting her go crazy with the attacks - alright. Okay."

She hardly broke a sweat as she ran and spoke to him, "Look. Plan, here we go - I'm getting back up there, you cook up somethin' with your kido stuff, i'm going to try to smash those things best I can. Lemmie be your distraction. Good plan? Cool, Sayonara!"

She gave little heed to how uncomfortably final that bidding farewell may have been in the moment, but she hardly had a moment to consider wording. From a swift run up the nearest wall and up into the sky, her body was readied and quickly approaching the Arrancar with every bit of speed she could muster into her steps, a sudden press of her palms and heels in the air would send her launching toward her opponent, her arms stretched out in a seemingly useless lunge; Nekotobitsuku.

Her aim was to both smash her opponent's defenses, as well as throw her into the nearest pylon from the sheer force of her Hakuda move, gritting her teeth in preparation for the impact.

Despite her exterior, Kizuna was an intelligent woman. She hadn't reached this point in her life simply by acting like a wild animal. As she saw the cat-like shinigami bolting toward her, she figured she had a few options. None of them were to actually run, she wasn't the fasted girl around by any stretch. Instead, she reacted without even moving; her resurreccion's ring swiveled quickly around her, forcing Komugi through it even as she successfully crashed into Kizuna and sent her flying toward one of her pylons. The full force of Kizuna's release within her ring of evolution was nothing short of crushing; few could simply endure it without any ill effect.

But that was perfectly convenient. After all, her pylons were practically part of her own body, and the pylon simply moved to give her a soft landing. Kizuna grabbed onto it and twirled around it briefly as the pylon turned sideways, before she simply stood atop it as if it were a surfboard.

"Not bad! Let's keep this up, you've got some spunk in ya."

Snapping her fingers, the remaining five pylons abandoned their stationary positions, moving once more to Kizuna's back, though they all pointed forward as they began to charge again, alongside the one she stood atop, and a 7th cero at the end of her outstretched index finger.

"Look out~"

Even as she offered that warning with all the seriousness of a lighthearted ribbing, seven Gran Rey Cero burst forward with catastrophic force, converging into a singular, far more dangerous beam. That beam, in turn, flew through the ring of Kizuna's resurreccion, evolution forced upon it as the energy grew violent and unstable. The beam was nearly unthinkable in its scope now; such an attack could have turned even an above-average shinigami to dust if they were hit directly by it.

That was the intention, of course. Just "above average" wasn't enough to justify continued life in times of strife, after all. Strength was defined only by who could survive the greatest hardships, and only the strong could create the next generation.

Someway into making contact with the enemy, a terrible sensation hit her all at once - the sensation of her body being pressed together and crushed, a searing pain that rocked her insides and made her small body shudder even once she finished passing through the ring. The urge to scream was deafened by a gargle of blood hitting her tongue, a series of hacking and struggles to breathe shaking her form. What the hell was that?! Cough, cough..! Clear lungs, breathe..!

A brilliant light made her pupils nothing more than slits as a hand clutched her suffering chest, the taste of red sharp in her mouth as she was faced with sure annihilation. No stopping, stopping meant death. She just hoped Gekiretsu would be alright, grabbing her sword from it's flaming sheath and readying herself; she had her target.

Those floating things, she had to take them out. Even if her arms were shattered, her legs given, everything to her a broken mess, she had to stop this witch. She couldn't stop that attack, but she could stop any further damage if she just...!

Within a blur of speed, she forced herself up and above, as high as she could go in a single instant within her boosted power, above the roaring beam; those things were all grouped up, she could do it..! Her flaming sword lifted above her head, a deep breath straining her lungs,

"Kookoo no Tsukihonoo!" Practically screamed out as, with a large downward thrust, those blue flames would erupt from her blade like a massive, refined sword strike, a gigantic burst of her energy seeking to find it's target in the pylons, rather than their user. Within collision with any of them, they would be engulfed in flames and cut into with a great force, a chilling atmosphere would take the place as that warmth-sapping fire would devour anything it touched to fuel it's rampaging life force.

Things didn’t look too well right now. Once his Dankū crashed, Komugi was dragging him across the debris like running around with a flickering flag, escaping the rays of light trying to turn the two Shinigamis into spotted cheese slices. While Ranma might’ve gotten his face flung into debris here and there, he and Komugi managed to evade, narrowly, the impending doom that descended.

His head was spinning already… but there was no time nor space to take a break in the midst of defense against an invading force with pricks for brains. Yes, he used Kidō, and he wasn’t fast enough to cast it before a Cero would try to hug him – Komugi punctuated, however, that she was fast enough, paying attention not the floating Cero-launching objects in the air above them. A lot of things to consider.

So… uh… oh thank the heavens, for a second Ranma thought he was the one required to cook up a plan or something, for his brain was starting to grind against his skull – although Komugi was in a hurry (understandably), he got the gist of her offer. She’d try to remove the pylons from the equation, giving him the time he needed to… cook up a Kidō spell… yeah… okay… he could do that. His entire body was sweating madly, his heart was choking him, but if she gave him the time he needed, then he could prepare one of the harder-hitting Hadō spells that Erica, too, was capable of.

… Her bidding farewell made his heart sink back down to his feet, though. Something ominous about it – as if it was her last- fuck, NO! Don’t jinx it, you goon! As Komugi leapt up to charge at the Arrancar, Ranma began chanting – in this instance, skipping the chant would be more detrimental than trying to fire the spell too early.

"Sprinkled on the bones of the beast… sharp tower, red crystal, steel ring. Move and become the wind, stop and become the calm. The sound of warring spears fills the empty castle…!"

After having used this spell against Armina back when she oh so politely barged into his Squad to start trouble, Ranma had grown a little braver. Even now, if the spell would decide that he wasn’t being respectful enough, he couldn’t really feel his fear building up any higher than it already was.

The bright, yellowish orb began to shake and spark in front of his palm, growing and growing with impatience as the electric currents built up – threatening to simply unleash it all in between his burnt, bruised hands – but his focus was suddenly back on Komugi. Something had happened to her when she launched through the enemy’s rope ring – she looked like she was in a lot of pain after that, even as she’d pushed the Arrancar far back- but those pylons simply came to her aid, and the enemy was now trying to shoot Komugi down! If he didn’t’ shoot his spell now, Komugi would-

She still appeared to hang in there, trying to get rid of the pylons first and foremost with blue flames emerging from her Zanpakutō. There’s my opening! Ranma spotted at last, figuring that if the Cero-blasting objects were distracted, then he could come closer! With the threatening ball of lightning in his hands, he gathered strength in his legs and leapt up with a Shunpo, approaching the Arrancar at the highest speed that he could muster – still carrying that damning orb in his hands as the electric power began to grow even more. Please, don’t blow up on me! Don’t let Morikawa-sensei’s words go to waste!

Kizuna's grin widened as she turned her finger upward, pointing toward the sky with no small amount of flair. The pylon she stood atop simply moved with her pointing, and the rest of her pylons shot outward. The massive beam she had fired, much like before, arced upward as it whipped into the sky, intent on overwhelming the ice-cold flames and the shinigami who had created them.

"Uh oh~"

Despite this, she noticed the shinigami attacking her from the other side. But with her focus still primarily on the massive cero she was manipulating, she couldn't do much immediately to stop him. Impressive, very impressive! Even as she layered A-Type Hierro, Kizuna didn't put much more effort into defending against the small fry. For now, she had to focus on the one in bankai. She could sense that her allies all over the battlefield were doing well, maybe even too well.

"Tch."

If this got any worse, Kizuna would have no choice but to do a little bit of limit testing without prior experience. She didn't mind pushing herself to unreasonable limits.

… Ain’t no way he wasn’t spotted by now. His Shunpo, while leaving a lot to be desired in his eyes, was still conventional enough to close the gap, but…

Something snapped.

The veins on his forehead traveled down to his eyes, turning them red with fury. Because of his laughable speed, Komugi was once again in the damn blast zone, and while he could close the gap between him and the enemy, there was something absolutely vile about them beyond just their invasion of the Seireitei. Her focus was still majorly on Komugi… fine.

Fine! He understood very well – she was the one with Bankai, after all. That’s what made the difference, wasn’t it? If Shura was here, she’d agree… but Ranny wouldn’t. No, she’d known better. Gulp down your anger and take the opportunity.

Since distance wasn’t a current issue right now, Ranma really, really, really, really, really, really wanted to cut the Arrancar in half. He couldn’t cut anything with a ball of concentrated lightning in his hands – it sure sucked that he didn’t use Tsuzuri Raiden instead… wait… they were both lightning-based Hadō spells.

And almost as if following that thought like a command, Ranma grabbed Hōkamaru and hovered the orb of electric energy over the flat of its blade. The beam simply ran through his Zanpakutō, bursting out from the sharp tip as he swung forward- his blade appeared to brake in the midst of his swing, however, for just a brief moment… only to come swinging even faster, threatening to sever her torso and abdomen!

“Raikōhō!!!”

Combining Raikōhō with Setsuna:

The only thought that entered her mind before a light bright enough to shame the sun hit her eyes was a simple, They move?!

Flames irradiated off her form as she could barely keep back the beam that came for her, hands tightly gripping her sword as her heart raced and pain burned her flesh and innards. Her eyes were barely a squint, tears flying from them as she couldn't help but cry out from the strain. A stray thought wondering of her death was quickly dashed aside; if she didn't win out, more people would die if this witch ran amok... She couldn't give out, she couldn't stop..!

Even if this Arrancar was stronger than her, she had to win out..! She had to!

Her pained screams escalated into what could only be described as a vicious caterwaul, leading into an almost chant of her power as she would forcibly swing her sword, blast after blast of cooling flames would beat against the Cero,

"KOOKOO NO TSUKIHONOO!"
"KOOKOO NO TSUKIHONOO!"
"KOOKOO NO TSUKIHONOO!"

Sound raked vocal cords as she screamed that blue flame's power, again and again, slash after slash, push after push after push on this seemingly neverending torrent of heat and light, the strain and burn on her body nothing compared to the imagining of what would happen if this Arrancar went free.

Again, and again, and again, she would hack and slash and push herself forward, a burning will to protect and preserve the innocents below would push her on, toward her foe.

It was only by merit of her layered active defenses that Kizuna was not split completely in two by the impressively empowered strike that Ranma had laid into her. The constant offensive of the cat was still a force she couldn't simply ignore, either. Pressed into a corner like this, bleeding from her midsection, most might have expected that Kizuna would finally be concerned.

But all that was on her face was an expression of unrestrained, manic glee. This was good. This was pushing them to their limits. This was progress. But Kizuna had her own strength to still develop, and she had hardly given these little creatures her all just yet. She raised one hand to her face, fingers gripping around her own lower jaw, and all at once simply wrenched it from her own skull, the flesh and bone burning away into nothing in her grip.

Yet, there was no pain in Kizuna's eyes. It seemed even without a mouth to smile, it was still there in her eyes. The five pylons which had surrounded them all now pointed inward, a swirling black mass forming at the tip of each. Two more formed in each of Kizuna's hands; seven Cero Oscuras. But a final black mass swirled into form at the point where Kizuna's jaw had once been, created not only from her raw power, but empowered by the sacrifice of her flesh and blood.

Dark Smasher.

It was undoubtedly a risk to try such a maneuver here, now, without prior testing. But to take risks in battle was the nature of progress. If she died, then she deserved it.

Two of the Cero Oscuras which formed at her pylons rocketed toward Ranma, intent on crushing him. Three more burst toward Komugi; yet, such attacks of cataclysmic power were only distractions for Kizuna's true intention. The Oscuras which had formed in both of her hands crashed together, as she smashed the two forming orbs into the third which had manifested in her gaping, destroyed maw.

Black filled the area. There was hardly a sound, hardly light. The Cero had not traveled anywhere; rather, the cero simply detonated where it was, and now traveled outward from Kizuna like a wave of annihilation, a perfect black sphere that was silent as the grave.

Her eyes burned, vision a blinding white as all she had to go off of was her senses to know where to lay her blade, screams shredding her throat with each and every burst of flame that came crashing from her odachi. Burning, bracing, falling toward her opponent... She wasn't going to die here, she wasn't going to die here! Not when she hadn't gotten her family the safe life they deserved! How could they be in safety if there was no Seireitei, at the end of it?! Those days staring wistfully at that far off white smudge of paradise, barely visible on the cloudy horizon, imagining both kin she knew and hadn't met, together, eating good food and sleeping in comfy beds... All her efforts weren't gonna be for nothing!

The blurry figure of her opponent was before her, just before she had to answer to three incoming Oscuras; her feet worked long before her thoughts did, the sear on her senses leading her burnt ragged body out of the way of the incoming beams, forcing herself, pushing herself along out of harm's way despite everything; she wasn't sure if Gekiretsu was alright, at least not until the smear of his spiritual pressure coupled with an incoming sense of pure terror making whatever majority of her fur that was left, bristle.

Something big was coming. She didn't know what, she couldn't see what, but she had the sensation to get moving or else they would really die.

She couldn't scream his name, a gargle of blood and fluids coming from her lips instead. Her movements did the talking; she had to be fast enough to at least grab him...!

An indescribable agony hit half her body as she closed in on him.

"RAN-!" Was the only thing she could hack out as her body slammed into him, grabbed his arm as tightly as she possibly could, and yanked.

Shunpo. Run. Shunpo. Run. Shunpo. Run.

As poor as it was, it was better than nothing, it'd get them out of the blast zone, even if she had dislocated the man's arm from the sheer pace, they had to run away.