Ichigo struggled, all his weight was push into his arms and legs. His muscles tightened, but Primal pushed back. The tip of the scythe inching closer and closer to Ichigo's face.
"You're starting to piss me off, you know that?" Ichigo asked, gritting his teeth.
Primal chuckled, she pushed down harder. Her single red eye glowed. A smirk played at her lips behind her cracked Grimm mask.
Ash fell in silent drifts, whispering across the broken stones of the courtyard like the ghost of a winter never meant to be. The twisted remains of Sakura trees stood as blackened skeletons, their blossoms reduced to charred flakes that mingled with the grey snow from the fires raging beyond the walls. Smoke curled above, the sky bruised with deep reds and black shadows. All around, faint echoes of steel clashing and screams filtered through the ruin — the war between Quincy and Shinigami grinding ever onward.
Yoruichi, who was still injured. Stood by, watching. She wanted to help Ichigo, she knew she had reached her limit but she refused to sit by, she didn't care if she was knocking at death's door.
The clash became a test of will. Ichigo's arms trembled under the weight of Primal's strength. His waraji pushed hard against the cobblestone, but he was slowly starting to slip as his muscles screamed. Zangetsu's hilt creaked in his grip, the scythe inching closer toward his face, the reek of Grimm energy coming from Primal filled the air.
~~~
Meanwhile, deep within her own mind. Scarlet surfaced from the endless vast void of water, she gasped. Coughing, she climbed up. "Dammit, that was too close..." She glanced around for a moment, trying to figure out how she'd be able to get out. "Now then....how do I get out and back into control?"
The water below her feet rippled. As she walked, her reflection below her would shift and change. Eventually settling on Ruby Rose. "You're nothing like me, you're an abomination...a freak of nature." Ruby's voice echoed around Scarlet. "You're just as sick and as twisted as Salem, full of hatred for humanity and murder."
Scarlet ignored the voices. She continued to wander around her mind, looking for something that could help her get an advantage over Primal. Ruby's voice continued to speak however.
"You say you're mine and Yang's sister, but you're not. You're a carbon copy of me. You're a clone, nothing more." Ruby spoke, her voice continuing to echo around Scarlet. "You've murdered countless of innocent people for your own pleasure, you never once took into consideration of their feelings and how their loved ones would feel."
Once again, choosing to ignore Ruby's voice. Scarlet continued onward, looking for something. But what? She was getting pissed, not at Ruby's voice. But at the fact that she was well...trapped in her own mind, with no clue of how to get out and get back in control of her body.
Once more Ruby's voice echoed around Scarlet. "You're a fake, you're nothing. You're a disgrace to mother nature..."
The Grimm girl kept ignoring the echoing voice of Ruby, her eyes fueled with determination. She was going to find a way out and get control again. One way or another, she was certain of what her goal was.
~~~
Back out in the real world. Ichigo pushed back, yelling loudly as he kicked Primal in the gut, knocking her back. "That does it! I'm pissed!" Raising Zangetsu up, Ichigo spoke. "Getsuga....Tensho!" Swinging Zangetsu down, a wave of energy came rushing towards Primal.
Primal's eye glimmered and glistened with interest. She used her Nevermore wing as a shield to block the attack, but what she didn't expect was for a extra hand coming in to aid Ichigo and Yoruichi.
Somewhere behind them, Renji vaulted over a collapsed wall, his zanpakuto gleaming in the dim light. His eyes locked on the fight instantly. "Ichigo!" Renji shouted, landing hard. The ground trembled beneath him.
"Two of you now? How precious." Primal spoke, her wing was sliced in half from Ichigo's attack. Scoffing, Primal growled under her breath. She noticed something was off however, her wing wasn't regenerating. She cursed under her breath. "No, you can't be awake..."
Yoruichi stepped back, her knees protesting, vision flickering at the edges — she had nothing left to give in the fight, but she remained rooted, unwilling to let the battle happen without her presence. She heard what Primal had said, a small grin playing at her lips. "So....it seems like we're going to have an advantage here..."
Ichigo looked back at Yoruichi with a raised eyebrow. "What do you mean?"
"Put it this way." Yoruichi spoke, look at her as if she were you. Not the one in control, but the Hollow side of you was."
Renji knew what Yoruichi was on about, he kept his gaze on Primal but spoke. "She's saying, the one who is in control of the body right now, isn't the one who should be. But rather, the soul who owns it-"
"Is trying to get out." Ichigo spoke, finishing Renji's sentence. "Gotcha."
Primal's laughter lanced through the smoke. "So you've noticed…" She paused but continued speaking. "I'll just have to carve you all into bits before Scarlet can regain her control." She spun Black Rose around, the scythe kicked up ash off the ground, to use it as a haze or a smoke screen.
Renji didn't hesitate — Zabimaru roared to life, its segments snapping forward. "She's trying to use the ash to her advantage, stay sharp." Primal caught the strike with her scythe, shoving it aside as though swatting an insect. Her speed was inhuman, a blur of black, silver and crimson, every movement carrying lethal intent.
The battlefield became chaotic — Ichigo pressing from one side, Renji from the other, trying to force an opening. Primal moved like a predator among prey, the Grimm within her woven through her form augmenting her every strike. Ash continued to fall, clinging to sweat and blood, coating Zangetsu's blade and Zabimaru's chain in ghostly white.
Yoruichi's chest rose and fell sharply. She could barely stand, yet her eyes tracked the fight, calculating, searching for that moment when her friends might need her. She could feel the monstrous urges within Primal — the raw, uncontrollable rage that powered each attack. It was more than a Grimm. It was something deeper, something human twisted beyond repair. She needed to help, she could try to paralyze Primal, to give Ichigo and Renji more time. But in her weakened state, she'd only get herself killed.
But Yoruichi noticed something...something no one else saw. Primal was just relying on her Grimm instincts, the rage. The strength...speed, she hadn't noticed any change within the air. She realized that Primal had no idea or way to use Scarlet's semblance, that would also explain why her aura never showed or flickered. Just like Ichigo and his inner hollow, Scarlet and Primal were two sides of one coin. What if....what if the mask was the answer? Yoruichi's eyes widened, that might be the answer.
"Ichigo!" Yoruichi shouted. "Focus on her mask!"
"Her mask?" Ichigo mumbled as he looked at Primal's mask, seeing the cracks and the way it flaked, pieces falling off. He grinned, he knew what the answer was now. "Renji, you heard her."
Renji nodded his head, his gaze never leaving Primal. "Right." Recoiling Zabimaru, Renji jumped back. "We'll need to hit her head on, with everything we've got."