Killer Circus [Ichigo, Rose]

Soul Society had already lost so much today, enough that it might have brought Rose to tears were the bloodletting already over, but the curtain call for this dark day still remained out of sight. He had been preparing for this day ever since his return to the Gotei, the secret goal of the Division that he had been offered at the Captain Commander's behest, but even the best-laid plans could not have prepared anyone for this. Their leadership structure had been shattered, the First bereft of both their senior officers, the Third missing too, the Seventh away on Earthly duties, and the Sixth already silenced. They would have likely collapsed already were it not for other heroes' desperate heroics, but now the momentum of that initial shock was finally beginning to subside.

The golden rope of Kinshara ripped through lesser invaders and greater ones alike as Rose darted across the battlefield that had once been the heart of the Seireitei, his movements as graceful as the finest of dancers whilst he created a melody of vengeful destruction with each strike. His face was contorted into a dry grimace, any sense of his usually relaxed self now long replaced with a grim sense of determination. The target was ahead, and approaching almost leisurely, it made Rose sick to his stomach to think that someone could be so carefree at a time like this. But this was not the person he had once known, he had told himself that a thousand times over, just another beast to be put down. So, to perform this final mercy, he could not hesitate.

His weapon spoke before he did, even as the long beak of his Vizard mask formed to mask those pained features. Kinshara darted forward as soon as the orange-haired Arrancar came into view, energy surging from the flower at the tip of the weapon as it shot forth a beam into them before continuing onward to barrel into him at full force. The Captain himself soon followed in his weapon's wake, bursting onto the scene with a dramatic flair as a pair of beady lilac eyes peered across at the monster that had once been Ichigo Kurosaki.

"That was the First Kiss at Midnight, a bittersweet moment shared between dear friends torn apart by war. I pity what you have become, Ichigo, so allow me now to put you to rest."

With a single, purposeful tap of his finger upon the handle of Kinshara, another chord resonated along the length of the weapon to add to its ongoing melody before suddenly detonating in a powerful shockwave right where that tip was. If nothing else, Rose was holding little back in this assault.

Ichigo moved with a speed so blistering that it might have caught even his fellow Captains off guard, but Rose was not unfamiliar with his tactics. He had studied the reports from his previous appearances, done his due diligence, and even still it was only by a hair's breadth that Kinshara twisted in time to intercept Zangetsu before it split him in twain. There was a discordant clang as the two weapons crashed, shattering the previous melody as Rose was unceremoniously blasted backwards by the power contained in that one swing.

But he was not so easily silenced, one bad note did not bring the performance to an end, and so he flicked his wrist out even as he was still flying backwards. Kinshara responded silently to his command, thrashing wildly as it made to wrap around Ichigo's waist from behind and bind him. Limiting his movements was an unlikely thing, but just being able to sense the Arrancar's movements an instant before he made them might be all the difference between life and death.

"Can't or won't?" His blonde hair fluttered wildly behind him as his heels dug into the ground to bring him to a stop, that bird-like mask pointing intently in Ichigo's direction. "It matters not. A villain like you will never achieve their goals, I can already hear your demise upon the wind."

Another tap on the handle of his weapon, another sudden blast of disorientating sound in Ichigo's near vicinity. The same tune played again, though the pitch had changed from a whistle to a drumbeat. He wanted to have Ichigo's full attention, drawing him in once more so that there was no chance of failure. There would be only one chance to succeed, one moment that he had been afforded by the blood his comrades had already spilt, and he would not waste it.

Rose felt Ichigo surge forward even before he saw it, that feeling of drowning in an impossibly deep pool, and it threatened to consume him for a moment. But this was not a battle he would win with strength alone, it never had been, so it was time to do what needed to be done. His own reiatsu spiked, a drop against this raging ocean but one that didn't falter, as the world around the pair began to warp and shift. The strands of golden thread that had once been Kinshara now spiralled outwards into a sea of vast constructs.

"Bankai. Kinshara Butōdan."

Zangetsu slammed into a giant golden hand, the shock of the blow ringing out in another shockwave that sent reverberations across the Seireitei, the cero caught by another as both attack and hand were consumed in blinding golden light before they dispersed in a brilliant melody of destruction that levelled the surrounding area. With his conductor's baton in hand, Rose had endured that brutal assault and somehow remained standing. His army of giant dancers swarmed around them, bringing with them the melodic sounds of an orchestra coming to life with Rose and Ichigo taking centre stage.

"Now, let your funeral dirge begin. Tempestates!"

The baton flicked skyward, as the now-fully-formed dancers all cast their blank faces upwards in perfect harmony. Then, with a rip and a tear, the sky itself was sundered as the bounty of heaven rained down upon Ichigo. Bolts of lightning forged into bars of energy that embedded themselves into the ground and each other, latticing together to form a cage within which even a monster like him might find himself restricted. Zapping at anything that came too close and allowing only more bolts to fall even as they were in turn consumed.

Sense and sensibility would soon fade away when it came to dealing with Kinshara Butodan, for it was not a Bankai that one could simply rationalise. But it was quite the sight to see, Ichigo raging against this cage with every fibre of his being so committed to its destruction. His vicious swings did destroy one bar or two, but more simply rained down upon him to fill in that which was broken. But perhaps he believed there would be an end to this tide of electric irritation, so Rose would simply have to take that away from him too.

"Another verse. Sea Drift!"

He had not been on the receiving end of a Getsuga Tenshou before, though, and had little intention of making this his first experience. So, with another deft command, six of the vast dancing figures moved in to surround the cage just as Ichigo unleashed his devastating attack. A pair of them were engulfed by the attack as it burst free from the lightning cage, withering and crumbling into little more than golden strands charred black, but the rest were able to get in formation. They began to swirl around him, water forming in their hands and spilling forth from their bodies until the entire cage had begun an electric whirlpool of constant unrelenting destruction. It was an assault upon his body on both a mental and physical level, set to disorientate him and debilitate him until there was nothing left.

Unbeknownst to Ichigo, his desperate struggle was certainly devastating the surrounding area, but such was the nature of Rose's Bankai. It was not one that could be used against an opponent such as this without an understanding that the destruction would be unparalleled, for when a beast was cornered then it had nowhere left to go but to expend itself in one final blazing spark. Such was the danger when you dabbled with the mind, as Rose continued to lead and command as the mask around his face began to crack and split.

"My Kinshara will tear you to pieces, burn you to ashes, drown you in sorrow, and cast you into nothingness. So play your part and make your final plea, the height of our performance is approaching!"

Ah, how cruel it was to watch even a monster like Ichigo suffer in utter confusion at the sudden reversal of fates. But he was far from the first to have fallen afoul of underestimating the oft laidback Vizard, such undignified ends for beings that had thought themselves superior. It was quite certainly poetic, yet it would not be enough to simply end this right now. Rose would show him exactly what he had become, break down what little was left, and then perhaps the former hero would long for death.

The empowered Getsuga Tenshou blasted outwards with an ear-piercing cry, those dancers that had surrounded Ichigo almost immediately evaporating under the raw force. The whirlpool and the lightning cage now finally dissipated, allowing Ichigo a singular moment of respite before even more of the towering dancers loomed over him. Unmasked now, Rose did not spare a moment as he darted backwards expecting his opponent to come charging forward. He was far slower, but it would only take a moment more for the melody to change again. The pitch continued to rise until it reached a point that was nigh unbearable even for Rose.

"Our crescendo comes: Portes Du Ciel!"

Bathing Ichigo in white light, suddenly even Rose and his dancers were little more than a distant memory. A quiet echoing chorus upon the furthest reaches of his psyche, hidden from view alongside the rest of Soul Society. Almost like he had been teleported to another realm, a place of purity and serenity in which he stuck out like a sore thumb. How would he fare as the eyes of heaven bore down upon him, questioning his every little mistake and pulling him apart under the weight of himself? Even Rose did not know what demons he would manifest, would deep the darkness ran within him, but it would all be laid bare.