A massive vortex of wind slammed into the ice dragon Captain Hitsugaya unleashed upon Kariya. The ice and wind competed for a time in midair before the vortex enveloped the ice dragon and tore it to shreds.
But the vortex couldn't sustain itself for long and dissipated into frigid gales that brought sleet onto the surrounding rooftops. The sky had darkened as Captain Hitsugaya's reiatsu brought the temperature in the immediate area to an extreme low. Lightning thundered across the sky, and the sun that was casting the first light of dawn in the area was nowhere to be seen. The dark clouds that gathered in the sky smothered any semblance of dawn and plunged the region into stillness.
"Kariya!" Captain Hitsugaya snarled, swinging his sword with his reiatsu coiled around the Zanpakuto like a snake.
The dragon-shaped crescent of ice ripped through the ground as it surged toward Kariya, roaring with frozen fury. The courtyard cracked, and the walls trembled under the massive reiatsu. Kariya barely shifted—his wind compressing into a swirling barrier that redirected the dragon upward in an explosive burst of ice shards.
Captain Hitsugaya didn't waste time. He blurred forward, blade descending with lethal force.
Kariya raised a hand in response.
Compressed blades of wind shattered ice constructs, but Captain Hitsugaya had no shortage of ice to replace what was destroyed.
Reinvigorated ice constructs pierced through the gales of wind. Shockwaves rippled outward violently as their reiatsu battled for domination.
Tiles shattered under their feet. The air quaked from the raw power they unleashed in combat. Buildings toppled as ice dragons and wind blades wreaked havoc. Two immense spiritual pressures violently churned the air as Captain Hitsugaya and Kariya fought an unyielding battle.
'So far, everything is going according to the plan.' Harry mused, watching the fight unfold between the two powerhouses.
Harry stood rooted to the spot, watching Captain Hitsugaya in action.
"Is it time?" Ran'Tao asked from beside him.
"Not yet." Harry whispered, his eyes tracking the fast movement between the two men.
At the same time, Harry remained at the ready to deliver a decisive blow to Kariya and take away the Bount's advantage in Soul Society. But simply waltzing in and attacking Kariya head-on offered little margin of success. Especially now with the Bount holding immense power in his body that could level the entire area and potentially ignite one of the Jokaisho sites.
So, Harry developed a much more sophisticated plan with the time he had. When he had presented the plan to the Head Captain, there was a chance he'd get reprimanded for overstepping his authority. But Head Captain Yamamoto must've been in one of his better moods because not only did his plan get approved, but he was also charged with taking the lead on the plan.
It took him the better part of the night to organise everything and secure the cooperation of all the captains of the Gotei 13 for the plan. The most instrumental part of his plan required the cooperation of Captain Hitsugaya and the Kido Corps, as they were needed to deal with Kariya, while the rest of the squads quietly secured the Jokaisho sites.
Harry frowned as Captain Hitsugaya's ice constructs started to be ripped apart faster as the winds turned more violent. Despite Captain Hitsugaya's best efforts, Kariya was steadily gaining ground. Violent winds of blade cut through the ice constructs with more ease, and the air was supercharged with the battling spiritual pressures of the two warriors.
Still, Harry didn't intervene. He waited patiently behind the barrier erected by the Kido Corps, waiting for the right opportunity to act.
Suddenly, his mind became connected to the communication spell performed by Lieutenant Nanao.
"Harry, we're ready. All sites are secured." Nanao's voice echoed in his mind.
Harry took a deep breath, and some tension bled from his shoulders.
"All right. Time for the next phase of the plan." Harry muttered under his breath.
He signalled the Kido Corps to begin the next phase of the plan. At the same time, he took Ran'Tao's hand, channelling the spatial powers of Amaterasu into their bodies.
The soul reapers of the Kido Corps pressed their hands against the barrier and performed a long incantation. Several white pillars grew out of the ground outside the barrier, and their combined spirit energy manifested the spell.
The barrier that had so far contained the fight between Captain Hitsugaya and Kariya flared with white light.
Harry felt the shift instantly.
"Now!" he hissed.
The space around the battlefield began to distort—edges of the barrier folding inward as though trying to close around Kariya and Hitsugaya like a snapping jaw.
But the two combatants hardly noticed the shift. When they did, one was not surprised, while the other was definitely surprised.
Kariya tried to react with a spiralling column of razor-sharp wind blades to stop what was happening, but he was too late. Captain Hitsugaya responded by raining down ice daggers on Kariya, who was forced to dodge lest he be skewered by the ice.
The space around the battlefield warped itself. The area, filled with cobbled streets, towers, and pointy rooftops, gave way to the vast, dusty background of the Sokyoku hill.
No one was more surprised than Kariya at this abrupt change of venue. Before that surprise entirely left him, Harry pounced from behind using the spatial powers of Amaterasu.
He used the power granted by his Zanpakuto, having absorbed the Bount doll Baura. The power of teleportation through a sub-space, only accessible to him, which conveniently evaded the normal sensory powers of spiritual beings.
Using this power, Harry tore open the space behind Kariya and leapt through it with Ran'Tao.
He attacked with the basic binding spell in his arsenal.
"Bakudou 1: Sai."
The kido yanked Kariya's hands behind for a brief moment. It was by no means an unbreakable kido. Harry knew it. But there was no need for the kido to be unbreakable. All he needed was a moment of inaction.
Ran'Tao wasted not even half a second to stab Kariya with a sharp scalpel. The seal she spoke of was a spirit particle designed to act as a virus to Kariya. Once the blow was delivered, Harry disappeared with a fast-paced flash step, taking Ran'Tao with him. He was just in time as well because Kariya launched wind blades that could've shredded them into pieces.
"So… some rat cowardly hiding in the shadows thinks he can play games," Kariya muttered darkly, his red eyes glowing eerily. "How amusing."
Wind flared violently around him like a protective sphere before sending sharp blades of wind outward.
"I'm your opponent, Kariya!" Captain Hitsugaya yelled, swinging his sword in a wide arc.
A massive arc of ice sliced through the air and slammed into the wind sphere protecting Kariya.
Captain Hitsugaya screamed, pumping more reiatsu into the attack, creating more ice to drown Kariya's wind sphere. But Kariya moved away at the last moment and escaped from being piled under layers of ice.
Kariya, now standing at a distance, took notice of the three opponents arrayed against him.
A smirk stretched across his face when his eyes landed on Ran'Tao.
"I'm not surprised to see you with this rabble, Ran'Tao. But I'm surprised you think these two can defeat me." Kariya said with a dismissive look.
At the same time, two massive blades of wind shot out of his arms straight for Captain Hitsugaya and Ran'Tao.
"Your involvement in this battle is over." Harry muttered before space tore open underneath Ran'Tao and swallowed her up, transporting the woman to a safe location.
Harry channelled magic through the rings of Amaterasu.
"Protego."
A simmering blue shield appeared before him. The wind blade slammed into the shield's curvature and failed to penetrate. The wind blade dissipated into a simple breeze.
Hitsugaya somersaulted backwards through the air as a blast of condensed wind pressure shattered the boulders on the hill. He slashed through the air with his zanpakuto, sending spears of ice.
Kariya sidestepped the attack as if the air itself carried him, wind cutting through ice.
Captain Hitsugaya swung his sword again, causing massive arcs of ice spiralling outward like the wings of a dragon.
Kariya raised both arms.
Wind spiralled upward—forming a wave of pressure that tore the frozen waves apart.
"You really are impressive, Captain," Kariya said calmly with a grin. "But your ice cannot extinguish a storm born from the very air."
"Then you'll like me even more." Harry said, appearing directly above Kariya with his right hand drawn back.
"Bakudo 62: Hyapporankan."
A long beam of pure spirit energy formed in the palm of his right hand, which Harry promptly threw straight at Kariya. The beam split into a hundred fully formed spears of spirit energy with binding powers.
A relentless barrage of beams fell upon Kariya, bypassing his power over the wind. The beams pierced through his body, forcing Kariya to his knees. When the dust settled, Kariya was seen kneeling on the ground, several beams piercing his body. Dark red blood pooled around Kariya's knees as the binding kido spears punched through Kariya's limbs and pinned him to the ground.
Captain Hitsugaya capitalised on the moment and unleashed a massive ice dragon, which slammed into the bound Kariya with a roar. The ice dragon sank its sharp ice teeth into Kariya's shoulder and its body coiled around the man, covering him under piles of ice.
A massive block of ice formed out of Captain Hitsugaya's attack, serving as a temporary prison for Kariya.
Harry let out a relieved sigh, seeing his plan come to fruition with no hiccups.
"Sealing team." Harry yelled.
The Kido Corps, standing by to place spirit energy suppressing seals on Kariya, came out of their hiding spots on the Sokyoku hill. They converged on the block of ice and began placing their seals to contain Kariya and the Jokai crest contained in Kariya's body.
Harry appeared beside Captain Hitsugaya using a flash step.
"Your plan worked, Lieutenant Harry." Captain Hitsugaya said with an appreciative nod.
"Well, I wouldn't jinx it…" Harry started to say, but he paused as the ground began to rumble as if there was an earthquake.
It became clear almost at once that it was not an earthquake, as a rageful scream blared from inside the ice, followed by a dark red spiritual energy blasting into the sky. The ice dragon and the binding kido shattered under the onslaught of the chaotic spirit energy unleashed by Kariya.
Harry flash-stepped before the sealing team sent by the Kido Corps with an open palm and started the incantation for a kido.
"Wall of the silent heavens, divide the roaring forces.
Light without shadow, void of heavenly shield, and stillness becomes strength.
Bakudo 81: Danku!"
A massive rectangular energy barrier formed before Harry and the sealing team, shielding them from the onslaught of the destructive power unleashed by Kariya.
When the red spiritual energy subsided, Kariya was seen standing at the centre of a crater with his shirt torn off. The Bount was seen panting, and many wounds still remained on Kariya's body. The Jokai crest was burning bright red before it slowly went dormant as the spirit energy slowly stabilised inside Kariya's body.
Harry stopped pumping more spirit energy into the kido barrier and let it break away like glass.
"Before this goes any further, surrender, Kariya. You can still save your life if you surrender now." Harry yelled.
"You think your tricks intimidate me! You think these wounds you've inflicted on me make you victorious!" Kariya shouted, his red eyes gleaming with a wicked gleam. "Think again, Shinigami."
Kariya activated his ability to absorb spirit particles from the surroundings to heal himself. It was one of the basic abilities of a Bount. In a highly reishi-enriched place like the Soul Society, a Bount was supposed to be near invincible, as they could always recharge themselves by absorbing more spirit energy.
However, to Kariya's surprise, the spirit particles he pulled to his body refused to integrate into his being like the many times he had already done so upon arrival.
"What! How?"
Kariya gasped at the sight of his ability to assimilate vast amounts of reishi into his body failing. The ability to assimilate spirit particles was his trump card against the soul reapers, but now he no longer had that ability. Without that ability, he realised he could no longer heal himself.
His eyes widened a fraction and fell on the small wound by his navel, the one that was inflicted by the blade of Ran'Tao.
"So, that's what you were doing, Ran'Tao." Kariya muttered.
Kariya frowned in displeasure as he set his sights on the two opponents before him. He took a deep breath and raised his right hand. An immense spiritual pressure fell upon the Sokyoku hill as Kariya formed his doll, Messer.
Harry and Captain Hitsugaya immediately raised their guard, seeing the doll manifest on Kariya's arm.
"This fight will not end well for you, Kariya. Surrender now and save yourselves from an untimely death. You are no longer invulnerable." Harry warned.
"Do you think death scares me, Shinigami?" Kariya asked with a scoff.
A yellow lightning blade quickly formed from the mouth of Kariya's doll. Kariya thrust his palm forward, unleashing a massive yellow bolt of lightning straight at Harry.
Captain Hitsugaya flash-stepped away, but Harry stood rooted to the spot.
With a mere thought, two rings of Amaterasu flew out of his hands and expanded in diameter right in front of his body. The lightning bolt that was supposed to strike him was immediately absorbed by one ring, and the second ring threw the bolt straight back at Kariya.
Kariya's eyes widened as his attack was reflected. He dodged to the side in the nick of time and watched his own attack pulverise the area he previously occupied.
Harry didn't give Kariya a chance to admire the destructive force of his technique. He sped through the distance between them in the blink of an eye and swung the rings in a wide arc.
Kariya used his lightning blade to defend, but the rings of Amaterasu smacked him a few paces away.
Harry followed after Kariya and started delivering blow after blow using the rings of Amaterasu as a highly flexible sword. Under the relentless assault, Kariya could only defend his position and do nothing else.
Kariya formed a mini cyclone in his palm and made it grow before throwing it straight at Harry.
The move left Harry momentarily amazed, but he brought forth one of the rings of Amaterasu and devoured the growing cyclone into the tear of space formed inside the ring. At the same time, Harry slammed his left hand forward.
The cero he stored inside one of Amaterasu's rings blasted out with the force of a bullet train. The red beam struck straight at Kariya, who was forced to defend himself with the lightning blade of his doll.
Kariya found himself overwhelmed by the cero's power, his right hand shaking as he tried to hold off the unexpected attack. Despite his best efforts, he was blasted out of the sky and fell straight to the ground. He panted lightly, falling to a knee as the wounds he sustained started to overwhelm him despite augmenting himself with the power in his Jokai crest.
He looked up from the ground to see his enemy looking down from the sky. The look in those green eyes made him lose focus as rage briefly overtook his mind.
'I'll not be looked down on by a mere Shinigami lieutenant.' Kariya screamed in rage in his mind.
Kariya gritted his teeth and fired off a massive blast of lightning straight at his opponent.
This time, Kariya kept a close eye on his opponent. He saw the rings on his enemy's hand come out in a swarm and absorb the lightning bolt, forming a tear in space.
"I can see what your powers are, Shinigami." Kariya said, staring at his opponent with a glare.
"Oh." Harry merely raised an eyebrow with mild curiosity as he floated in the air with all the rings of Amaterasu swarming back and forth around him in a protective cocoon.
"Your zanpakuto forms a spatial tear to seal off all energy-based attacks in a separate dimension. You also have the ability to use these attacks and throw them back at any given time." Kariya analysed.
"Not a bad assumption," Harry said with an impassive face. "But you missed something else, Kariya."
"What?" Kariya growled as he stood up carefully on his two legs with the lightning blade in his hand, humming with power.
Kariya felt his entire body suddenly become cold. A sharp pain wracked across his whole body, and he felt his limbs go numb. He felt the cold and the pain spread from the centre of his chest.
When he looked down, Kariya's eyes widened with disbelief. He saw a sword stabbing through his chest with its edges covered in frost and an unnatural cold oozing out of it.
"This is… impossible!" Kariya gasped as the sword pressed forward, making him feel more pain.
Kariya slowly turned around, expecting to see the face of the Captain who stabbed him from behind. Instead, his eyes met only a large metallic ring with a spatial distortion inside the negative space. From that negative space, he saw a sword being stabbed straight into his body.
Kariya's eyes widened when he saw Captain Hitsugaya in the distance, stabbing his sword into another ring. It was then that he made the connection and understood the terrifying power and tactics employed by his enemy.
"Heh!" Kariya snorted with a hateful glare. "Stabbing me from the back. Such lowly tricks from the Shinigami."
"All warfare is based on deception," Harry said as he slowly floated down. "Did you suddenly forget how you manipulated the Quincy boy to launch your invasion into Soul Society?"
"I…" Kariya started to say, but he paused when he felt movement close to him.
"Bakudou 61: Rikujokoro."
Six wide beams of light slammed into Kariya and held the Bount immobile. Harry appeared before Kariya using a flash step and pressed his index finger against the Bount's forehead, giving him a cold look.
"I offered you a way out of this from the start." Harry said with a sigh before resolving himself to do what was necessary.
"Hadou 4: Byakurai."
A bolt of lightning shot out of Harry's index finger at point-blank range and shot through Kariya's head in the blink of an eye. The wound on Kariya's head smoked as the lightning fried the inside of the Bount's head.
Harry watched impassively as Kariya slumped lifelessly against the binding kido. At long last, the Bount leader was dead.
Harry let out a relieved breath before he let his arm fall to his side. The rings of Amaterasu glowed with bright golden light before reforming into a sealed sword at his waist.
Across the Seireitei, different Captains and Lieutenants felt the change in the air.
The tension bled from their shoulders as they felt the clashing spiritual pressure of the enemy dwindle to nothing while they looked after the Jokaisho sites unearthed by the intel Harry provided beforehand.
Harry felt the wind shift behind him as Captain Hitsugaya arrived by his side.
"There is one thing that still confuses me." Captain Hitsugaya said, standing by his side and looking at the fallen form of Kariya with a frown.
They stood in silence as the Bount leader's corpse dissipated into spirit particles and became one with the soul society.
"Oh." Harry raised an eyebrow while looking at the short Captain.
"You said you had a secret mission for Rangiku when you approached us last night. What was it?" Captain Hitsugaya asked curiously.
"Oh, that!" Harry chuckled heartily, thinking of the secret mission he assigned to Rangiku.
*******
Rangiku Matsumoto stirred on the ground and slowly blinked awake. She stretched her body like a cat shaking itself out of slumber and happily pulled her hands up as she greeted the sunlight streaming through the window of the hall. The early sunlight in the training hall spilt over her like liquid gold, warm and soft, illuminating the subtle glimmer of last night's sake bottles scattered haphazardly around the room.
For a long moment, she didn't move. She simply let the light warm her cheek and listened with her ears for the sound of chirping words from the nearby tree.
Instead, her ears picked up the sound of soft snoring and breathing.
The peaceful, heavy slumber of teens who had challenged her in a drinking contest and failed spectacularly.
A triumphant smile tugged at her lips as her eyes fell on the slumbering human guests she hosted last night.
"Mission accomplished." Rangiku whispered with a soft smile, tugging at the edge of her pink lips.
Rangiku stretched with a soft groan, arching her back like a satisfied tigress. Her arms reached high above her head, her spine lengthening with a pleasant ripple. Her black shihakusho shifted with her motion before settling loosely around her.
Her eyes fell on the most troublesome teenager in the group of humans she was babysitting – Ichigo Kurosaki. The orange-haired boy was snoring away peacefully with his face half buried in a cushion.
Orihime lay curled up peacefully with a blissful smile, as if dreaming about flowers or cake—or both. Chad was sleeping upright against a pillar, arms folded, head tilted at an odd angle, but looking perfectly at peace. And Uryu… poor Uryu… was clinging to a sake gourd like it was the last artefact of his Quincy heritage.
Rangiku clasped a hand over her mouth to stifle her laughter.
'Absolutely adorable.' she thought with a smirk.
She rose quietly from her futon and tiptoed between their sprawled limbs, collecting empty bottles along the way. She slowly slid the door open and stepped out into the peaceful morning of Seireitei. She could not feel any clashing spiritual pressures in her sensory range, which was a good sign.
'If everything went according to plan, the fight would have probably ended.' she mused.
She didn't regret not being part of the fight. After all, keeping the teens out of the fight was equally important. A shinigami's primary duty in the world was to protect the pure souls and guide them to the afterlife. She was confident she had done the same by keeping the teens far away from the fight.
The fact that she bargained for a year's worth of sake and a number of dates she preferred from Harry was just the icing on the cake.
It was funny watching Harry's face resemble a tomato when she bargained for a couple of dates for this particular favour. She loved needling Harry, who was so focused on keeping discipline and appearing prim and proper all the time. It was now her lifelong mission to keep Harry on his toes until he stopped being such a prude.
Her eyes once again found the teens peacefully sleeping away without a care. The fact that Harry asked her to keep the teens out of the fight and away from danger spoke volumes about his character. Of late, she struggled to trust her instincts in matters like this after the betrayal of Gin, who was her oldest friend.
So, it was good to know that her instincts were right about Harry.
A hell butterfly flew through the window and landed on her finger. As she received the latest update about the battle, her shoulders dropped in relief.
"Finally! It's over." Rangiku whispered with a smile. "Good for you, Harry-kun."
AN:
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