Equestria Girls: Friendship Souls

by thatguyvex


Episode 77: Unstoppable Forces

Episode 77: Unstoppable Forces

Enveloped by the freezing embrace of her lake, Adagio dove only a short distance into the darkness before crafting a bubble of air around herself, Ember, and their struggling hostage.

“Stop it,” she commanded in a swift, sharp tone as Twilight squirmed in her grasp, “If I actually wanted to hurt you, Twilight Sparkle, I’d just let the water take you.”

She made sure the bubble of air was large enough to hold all three of them and had enough internal pressure to let them stand at the bottom of it like being on a somewhat rubbery surface. Her control over the water around her let her move the bubble down at a respectable speed, and she kept her senses spread out in case any of the Quincy decided to try swimming after them. She did sense several spikes of reiatsu from the shore, but no one diving in after them. It wasn’t long before they were deep enough that they were surrounded by total darkness, but Adagio generated some bright, pale red light from her siren gem.

That done, she turned her attention to her hostage.

“L-Let me go!” Twilight said, trying to wriggle out of Adagio’s grip, but the Vasto Lorde had the girl beat in the strength department and had little trouble keeping a tight hold on her. Meanwhile Ember snorted, bringing her Zanpaktou bear.

“How about we just kill you and let your corpse float back to your Quincy pals, instead?”

“Ember,” Adagio said in a warning tone, “I need her alive.”

“Why? Who is she to us, except another damn Quincy?”

“Remember what I told you about the raid? This girl is the one I was talking about. Twilight Sparkle.”

She felt Twilight’s struggles slowly cease and the girl turned her head, eyes still showing a fearful light but also swimming with a rapid stream of thoughts. “Adagio... I thought maybe it was you, but... how? How did you get here!? And you’re a Hollow!?”

Ember grunted, “She’s observant, ain’t she?”

Adagio met Twilight’s questioning gaze with a long stare of her own, her voice dropping to a calming, dulcet tone, “At the risk of sounding cliche; it’s a long story. If you promise to behave yourself I’ll tell you what I can, and promise to let you go in due time. There’s just a few things I need from you first.”

Twilight had stopped struggling, but there was an uneasy, suspicious look on her face that didn’t quite mesh with the naive geek that Adagio briefly remembered from her time spent back at Discord’s shop. How long ago was that? A month? It felt like so much longer. The hard lines around Twilight’s eyes, the slight darkening of shadows within them, suggested Adagio wasn’t the only one who’d gone through some rough times recently.

“What, exactly, are you after?” Twilight asked, “In fact how can I trust you?”

“Well, for one I haven’t let my friend here gut you like a fish and leave you for dead,” Adagio said, “As you can tell, she’s not in the best of moods.”

“At all,” Ember said for emphasis, stroking her Zanpaktou, “If it were up to me, you’d already be dead. Adagio is all that’s between you and a gruesome death right now.”

“Dramatics aside, I’d also point out that you don’t have to trust me to cooperate with me. Consider it in your own best interests.”

“Would you really let her kill me if I don’t agree to cooperate?” Twilight said, tensing up.

“Twilight, Twilight, Twilight, please understand that I’m being as reasonable as I can about this. We could go back and forth all day about who might kill who and who should trust who, but people are dying up there, on both sides, and for the moment none of us are among them. Can that be sufficient evidence of goodwill for you to listen to what I have to say?”

She heard Twilight take in a deep breath, trembling slightly, and then let it out as she gave the barest of nods. “Yes, okay, I’ll listen.”

“Good,” Adagio said as she slowly let go of Twilight, careful to keep a close watch for any sign that the girl might try to make a move. Twilight didn’t. At least not to escape. Instead she turned around so that she was standing between Adagio and Ember, facing Adagio moreso, and a strange series of emotions played over her face.

Again she asked, “What happened to you, Adagio? The last thing I remember was that Sunset and the rest of the girls were going to go rescue your sisters from Grand Fisher.”

Adagio nodded, snorting slightly, “Yes, no thanks to your family. At any rate, yes, Sunset and her little Scooby gang managed to save my sisters and finish off that damnable bastard. It's in gratitude to them that I saved your life in turn, during the raid on the Quincy.”

“So that was you I saw!” Twilight exclaimed, lightly smacking a hand into her palm in a ‘aha!’ gesture, “I thought you looked familiar, although you look different now. Is this how Hollow evolution works? Your body goes through significant changes? Is it always from non-humanoid to humanoid? How did you achieve the evolutionary changes? Where you a Gillian-class before all of this? How do you still have your siren gem after it was destroyed by the Elements of Harmony? How did you become a Hollow in the first place?”

“Whoa, whoa! Slow it down!” Adagio held up a clawed hand, “I swear it's like you’re a nerdier version of Sonata when she gets on a sugar rush. Look, I don’t have time to play twenty questions. Ember and I have something we need to do, and I’m using the underwater tunnels connected to my lake to get inside Las Noches. I’ll take you somewhere safe where you can hide until this battle blows over. After that I’ll come back and use a Garganta to take you to Canterlot City. In exchange I need you to answer to questions, and pass along a message.”

“Um... okay... but will you still tell me what you can about how you became a Hollow? Just the basics?” Twilight asked, and Adagio ran a claw over her snout in a frustrated gesture, and nodded.

“Fine, just the abridged version,” Adagio said, and quickly recounted the details of the fight with Grand Fisher, the damage to her soul chain, the final desperate run back to Discord’s portal, then Grogar’s interference and Adagio’s subsequent choice to tear her soul chain out and transform.

Twilight’s eyes grew wider and wider the longer the story went, and even Ember looked gradually more shocked. Ember had only known the bare bones basics, after all, and hadn’t heard the full story  yet either. By now they were deep within the depths of the lake, and moving into the yawning mouth of one of the tunnels that connected to the passage system beneath Las Noches.

“Ever since then, I’ve been surviving as best I can here,” Adagio finished, “I’ve had to deal with many unpleasant things. Grogar’s experiments, proving myself to Torch and his horde, risking my neck against every Gillian and Adjuchas in the Forest of Menos, not to mention nearly getting my head taken off by a mentally unstable Espada! Now I have to survive an army of Quincy here to wipe out my new home. So, yes, it’s been a busy month, Twilight Sparkle. How about you? Care to tell me how life with the Quincy has been?”

Twilight gulped, her voice eerily casual and conversational, like they were sitting at a cafe having conversation over frappuccinos, “Oh, you know, brutal training where I almost accidentally killed one of my classmates, a horde of Hollows attacking during a training exercise, assassins trying to kill me for reasons unknown and hurting my dog, striking a bargain with my magical possibly crazy alter ego, and just now surviving another assassination attempt and a fight with an Arrancar that tore into my comrades and murdered one of them in front of me. So, you know, not exactly peachy keen on my end, either...”

Adagio let out a sound that was somewhere between a laugh and a tired sigh, “Want to bet that Sunset Shimmer has been taking it easy, enjoying the quiet life back in Canterlot City?”

It was a strained thing, haunted by the pain and fear of recent events, but Twilight did manage a small smile, “I suppose statistically speaking its highly unlikely the girls back home have been having it as rough as we have.”

“Ah, so you still consider Canterlot City home, instead of being with your fellow Quincy?” Adagio asked, and Twilight glanced away, adjusting her glasses.

Twilight flinched, but there was only a moment of consideration in her eyes, wistful but hardened by practicality. “It is, in some ways. But the Quincy are a new family as well, and one I’m not going to turn on, if that’s what you were thinking of asking.”

“Not quite,” Adagio said, her tone becoming more business-like, “You don’t have to betray anyone. All I want is information.”

An uncertain wince passed over Twilight’s features like a veil, “What kind of information?”

Adagio made an off hand gesture, “About Quincy, of course. Details on how your powers work, how your military is structured, the names and known powers of these so-called ‘Sternritter’. Oh, and anything you happen to come across concerning plans for future attacks like this one, or just troop movements in general. I’d like to know which cities have the most Quincy oversight, for one. I’ll probably think of other things I’d like to know down the road, but that’s a good starting baseline.”

Twilight’s eyes went to roughly the size of grapefruits, her mouth hanging open for a moment in shock before she got her wits about her with a hard shake of her head and said, “Adagio, you’re asking me to spy for you!?”

“I prefer the term ‘intelligence gathering’, but whatever floats your boat.”

“I can’t do that! For multiple reasons! One; it would be wrong and involve betraying the trust my fellow Quincy have put in me! Two; I’m only a cadet, I don’t have access to any sensitive information like how many Quincy are stationed to watch which cities. Three; even if I agreed I’d make a terrible spy! I can’t lie to save my life!”

Adagio hardly missed a beat, holding up her fingers one at a time while smiling with sensuous grace and calm behind her mask, her voice soothing, “Let me address those points one at a time, little miss negativity. One; you don’t have to give me any information that you feel compromises the safety of your comrades, I only want to know ways to better protect myself and my followers against Quincy for self-defense. Since I intend to offer you something equally valuable in return, consider it not a betrayal but a separate, independent exchange between yourself and a neutral party. I don’t have any desire to kill Quincy, Twilight, only in keeping myself and those who’ve sworn loyalty to me from being killed.”

Before Twilight could mull that over Adagio went on, holding up a second finger, “Two; you’re a cadet for now, but in time that will most certainly change, won’t it? If you have power to confront Gilda and send that arrogant thug running for her life, then you’ve got the kind of potential that will lead to swift promotion. I don’t doubt that before long you’ll be in a position to gather quite a bit of useful information.”

Her third claw rose, “Finally, three; if you’re worried about lying, then don’t. I’m sure a girl of your level of intellect can gather quite a bit of information purely from observation and deduction alone. You don’t have to tell a single lie, just watch and keep me informed of what you see your fellow Quincy doing. Given your talents you can tell me all manner of things about Quincy powers, and in time you ought to become familiar enough with the Sternritter to be able to tell me about them without having to spout a single fib to your comrades.”

Twilight was still shaking her head, “I can’t do this, Adagio. These people are my friends, and family. If there’s even a chance you might end up hurting any of them because of what I tell you...”

“Consider this then,” Adagio said, eyes glittering, “I’m not asking you to do this for free. I’m offering something in return. If you agree to gather information for me, I’ll do the same for you.”

“What?” gasped Ember.
“What!?” blurted Twilight at the same time.

Adagio turned her head to regard Ember with an even look, “Ember, tell me, what’s the first rule of Hueco Mundo?”

Ember scrunched up her face, still looking rattled from what Adagio had said, “Not like anything’s written down, but if I had to say there was one it’s ‘survival of the fittest’. Least that’s what my dad lives by, and the rest of us in the horde do too.”

“So let me ask you this then, what fit Hollow wouldn’t be willing to do a little spying in order to obtain invaluable information on a group whose entire mission statement is to exterminate us?”

There was a frustrated growl that bubbled up from Ember’s throat, “But you’re talking about giving info to the enemy!”

“In exchange for info on the enemy,” Adagio pointed out, and smiled thin as a sheet of ice, “Think about it Ember. How much do you really care about any Arrancar outside of your father and your horde? I’m not proposing giving Twilight anything terribly compromising to people we care about, but how much would you object if I happened to provide information on, say, what Grogar does in his labs, or where his labs are located? What skin is it off our backs if the Quincy decide to destroy said labs? For that matter, even if the Quincy kill an Espada, so what? Its ‘survival of the fittest’, as you said. Any Espada who dies to a Quincy ambush just wasn’t very ‘fit’, were they? And that opens up a slot for your father to advance in rank. For us to advance in rank.”

Ember’s jaw tightened, “But... to work with the Quincy...”

“Don’t think of it like working with the Quincy. Think of it like using the Quincy to accomplish our own, independent goals, Ember. Just as I’m not asking Twilight to give me any information she feels might endanger her friends, I don’t plan on giving her any information that will put the Arrancar we like at risk. But if we can screw over Grogar with this, then why wouldn’t I go for it?”

Uncertainty swam like a droplet of oil upon water in Ember’s eyes. The dragonish Arrancar looked between Adagio and Twilight, flexing her clawed hands with unease as she worked over what Adagio was saying. Slowly Adagio could see Ember reaching similar conclusions that Adagio had, her tension easing as Ember sighed, long and hard.

“You are a ludicrously devious, and crazy, bitch Adagio,” Ember said, running a hand through her wild head of blue hair, “No wonder Chrysalis has gotten so interested in you. You realize if we get caught doing this, Lord Tirek won’t hesitate to fry us. Hell, my father might do it.”

“Oh, I think Torch might appreciate the subtle strength inherent in turning an enemy into an ally to be wielded against an ally who is actually an enemy. I’m an ambitious woman, and such ambition entails risky gambles,” Adagio said, turning her attention back to Twilight, who met the Vasto Lorde’s gaze with a searching look of her own. It was clear that, much like Ember had, Twilight was working over the proposal in her mind. And unlike Ember, Twilight was taking her time with it. Examining it from every angle. Adagio could see how nervous the girl was, but there was a fierce intelligence burning in her eyes.

“Let me ensure I have this straight, with no miscommunications,” Twilight said slowly, “You propose that I provide you with information on the Quincy, ranging from the fundamental nature of our powers, to the names and techniques possessed by our strongest members, and even troop positions across the globe. In exchange you will provide me with equally detailed information about Hollows, the Espada, including information we could use to stage attacks and ambushes on specific Espada?”

“That’s more or less the jist of it. I want to be better prepared to survive the Quincy’s attempts at murdering me and mine. I also wouldn’t mind certain Espada being in the line of fire, and I imagine you might benefit from being able to bring such valuable information to your superiors.”

“Maybe, but what am I supposed to tell them about where I got it from? If I tell them I have a Hollow informing me they’ll want to know why, and I can’t lie to them. I’d have to tell them I’m giving you information for it in exchange.”

Adagio tapped a claw to her chin thoughtfully, “True. Your Quincy comrades have an irrational hatred of Hollows, so revealing you have a connection to a Hollow would be dangerous. Then again, you could always spin it that you cleverly tricked a Hollow into spying for you, and all you have to do is give a few relatively useless tidbits on information in return. Alternatively you could just tell the truth, and let them know the full score. This deal benefits the Quincy as much as it does me. After all, it’d give them a potentially free shot at least one Espada I want very, very dead. That’s no small bargaining chip. So the real question is if there’s any of your superiors that’d go for the deal if you proposed the idea to them.”

That got Twilight to pause, her hand raising to stroke her chin, “I... don’t know. Some would object, most definitely. The hatred of Hollows runs very deep among many Quincy families. But... maybe if I brought it to him first...”

Him? Adagio watched Twilight’s face carefully, looking for any hint of what the girl might be thinking.

“It might work,” Twilight said, “If I present the idea in the right way to the right person. But I don’t know about this Adagio. I understand you want to protect yourself and your own friends from Quincy attacks, but what you’re asking of me is a huge risk and I still don’t like the idea of being used to spread information that could get people killed.”

Adagio rolled her eyes, “Twilight, you joined an army dedicated to the eradication of an entire species of spiritual beings. Just how much moral high ground do you think you have?”

“I...” Twilight choked slightly, glancing away, wetness forming in her eyes, “I just don’t want anyone else to die.”

“Ship’s sailed from that dock already, but if you want to make yourself feel better than look at it this way,” Adagio said, crossing her arms over her chest, “By giving me the information I need, you’ll probably be saving a lot of Hollow souls from being sent to oblivion, except a specific one that trust me is more than deserving of the fate. Whether you see my word as trustworthy, I give it anyway when I say that I swear to you I won’t use your information against any Quincy save in defense of myself or my immediate allies.”

“Then why do you want to know which cities Quincy are deployed to watch?” Twilight asked, to which Adagio let out a tired laugh.

“I don’t know, maybe because I want to know which cities are safe for me to go to without having to worry about being ventilated by arrows? I’d like to actually see the sun for a change, or take a dip in the ocean, or procure some food that isn’t the flesh of another Hollow. I can only do that in the living world, Twilight, so yes I’d like to know which cities to avoid, and which ones might be safe for me and mine to go to when we’re not busy fighting for our lives against Quincy, Soul Reapers, or each other.”

There was no deception in that. Adagio was being completely sincere. After sending Dumbbell and the boys out to Canterlot Cit, Adagio had been toying with the idea of visiting the living world to enjoy some honest to goodness RnR. The last thing she needed was for some Quincy jerk to try perforating her skull while she was enjoying a swim at the beach, or raiding a five star restaurant for some decent food.

There must have been a fairly strong note of honesty in Adagio’s voice, there, because Twilight gave her a look of open sympathy as she nodded, “You... haven’t been able to even eat normal food since becoming a Hollow have you? And there’s no sun here. It’s so empty and depressing in Hueco Mundo. Yeah, okay, I see what you mean.”

She paused a second longer, still hesitant, but ultimately Twilight gulped and said, “I can’t make any promises, but I’ll bring this to someone I think I can trust, who can make it happen if anyone can.”

Just who did Twilight know among the Quincy ranks? Adagio assumed Twilight was talking about her parents, which was whom Adagio figured Twilight would bring this to anyway. She’d surmised the pair were high ranking among the Quincy, maybe enough to make this plan work, assuming they didn’t freak out about the idea. Yet, Twilight seemed to be talking about someone else. But who?

Well, it didn’t matter, just as long as she did it.

“Still not big on this plan,” Ember said with a heated undertone, her eyes glaring with restrained bloodlust at Twilight, “This could go wrong in so many ways, Adagio. The Quincy could feed us false information, for one. Oh, yeah, sure that city is safe, no Quincy there. Then BAM, second you show up in town to relax and poach goods off the locals you get a Quincy death squad on your ass. And let’s not even begin to get into what’ll happen to us if anyone else in Las Noches catches wind of this. Lord Tirek would be doing us a favor by just blasting us into oblivion with a Cero. If we’re not that lucky, he’ll hand us over to Chrysalis.”

“I’m willing to take the risk,” Adagio said, gripping one hand into a tight fist, “There’s only so much I can do by playing it safe. The benefits outweigh the risks in this instance. But if you want to back out-”

Ember held up a hand, “I’m already here helping you with that other thing, ain’t I? If I was going to turn on you Adagio I should’ve done it well before now. I’m in, I just... really wish I could kill a Quincy or two today, is all. I don’t like playing nice with any of them, even one you think you owe.”

Twilight looked at Ember with a mixture of open fear and a bit of sympathy, “If it helps, I really do want to find a way to stop this whole war. It’s why I joined the Quin-”

“I don’t care,” Ember said flatly, eyes boring into Twilight, “About you, or anyone else besides my family and the very small list of people I consider friends. One of which has already died today because of you and your people. Whatever deal Adagio works out with you I’m only going along with because she’s earned my trust. You haven’t. Far as I’m concerned, if I see you again after today, I’m going to kill you, deal or not. So just... hope we never see each other after this is done.”

“Diplomatic,” Adagio drawled, but shook her head at Ember’s look and turned to Twilight, “Its been a rough day for all of us. Let’s just be glad we’ve come to an accord. Now about that message.”

“Oh. Right, you did say something about that,” Twilight’s nerves were overridden by a look of curiosity, “What is it?”

“It’s for Sunset Shimmer and her friends. Once I drop you off in Canterlot City, you can find her easily enough I imagine. Just tell her...” Adagio paused a moment, thinking of her wording, then said, “Tell her; ‘Don’t even think of trying to rescue me.’.”

“Don’t try to rescue you?”

“Excellent listening comprehension. Yes, don’t try. I don’t need rescuing. I don’t need help. I don’t want her or any of that crew of misfits trying to break into Las Noches on some well meaning but quite pointless attempt at saving me,” Adagio said, and she placed a firm hand on her trident, stroking it slowly for emphasis, “It's far too late for something like that to matter. I’m a Hollow, a Vasto Lorde, and I mean to make myself an Espada.”

Confusion and a fair bit of sadness, which Adagio didn’t really expect to see, played over Twilight’s face. “But why? If you could leave, and go back to your old life, why would you choose to stay here?”

“I don’t expect you to understand,” Adagio said, “And you don’t have to. Just deliver the message.”

Twilight was silent for a moment, searching Adagio’s eyes for a moment before she gave a resigned nod, “Okay.”

“Good, now with that settled, I believe we’re getting close to our destination.”

Adagio had been paying close attention to where she’d been directing the bubble. Her sonar-like sense of the water tunnels provided her with a near complete map of the passages into Las Noches, and they were nearing a tunnel that would lead into the outer wall structure not far from where she had claimed her territory. She could drop off Twilight there, and let the girl hide out in her rooms until the battle was done with. The chances of anyone discovering Twilight there was nearly zero, given even Dumbbell and the boys knew better than to actually go into Adagio’s room, and it was unlikely they’d finish their mission before the overall battle was over anyway. It was the safest place to stash Twilight, far as Adagio figured. She’d considered taking her to Lament’s tower, but had ultimately decided against it. She trusted that Di Roy and Gaw wouldn’t say anything, and it wasn’t likely Roka would either... but she didn’t want Twilight knowing about Fenice. That’d raise too many questions that even Adagio wasn’t sure how to answer, and until she decided how to use her knowledge of Fenice’s existence to her best advantage she didn’t want Sunset Shimmer knowing about her human counterpart.

That aside, Twilight’s question of why Adagio wouldn’t want Sunset and the others to try rescuing her lodged in the back of her mind, but Adagio didn’t let it bother her any more than a pebble in one’s shoe. She’d already thought the notion over several times, and there were too many reasons for her to stay at Las Noches. For one, Grogar had to die. She’d never leave Hueco Mundo until she was certain she was rid of that bastard. After that, she had grander ambitions. She couldn’t very well have Sunset and those girls upsetting those plans with a premature rescue operation.

Later on, when the time was right, perhaps Sunset Shimmer and that team of oddballs would prove useful, but not until Adagio had finished establishing her power here in Las Noches.

Assuming she survived today...

----------

It had been some time since someone had been able to crater Torch into a wall. He took a moment to savor the unfamiliar sensation of pain before he peeled himself off the dented stone wall of Las Noches. With a cocksure grin he rubbed the aching back of his head with his free hand and chuckled as he eyed Shining Armor.

“Rung my bell a bit there. Guess that shiny transformation isn’t just for show.”

Cracking his neck, he swung his axe around and hefted it over his shoulder like a fireman prepping to chop through a door. “Still gonna need to hit me a lot harder to put me down, boy!”

Muscles bulged around his arms, and his axe ignited with a sanguine glow of blood red flame. Then with enough strength to break the sound barrier in a wide shockwave he threw the axe like a blazing tomahawk. It carved a straight path towards Shining Armor, its flames of purest red roaring higher until the spinning axe looked like a incoming comet.

Shining Armor gestured in front of him, panning his hand in a swift arc. Reishi particles broke down from the sands of Hueco Mundo below, and flowed up in silver blue streams into his five wings. The particles then reformed in darts of white light, shaping into a thick half dome barrier formed of hundreds of small, interlocked hexagon shields. This process took all of half a second, just in time to intercept Torch’s axe.

The huge, brutish weapon, surrounded by its destructive aura of Hollow fire, struck Shining Armor’s barrier like a combination between a out of control airliner and a chunk of volcanic rock. Even through his shield Shining Armor could feel the heat and impact, but it didn’t distract him from noticing that as the axe spun like a saw and tried to grind through his barrier there was also a dark blur of motion to the side.

Torch, using Sonido, slipped behind Shining Armor, his mouth grinning still as red flame poured from between his white teeth. Shining could feel the build up of reiatsu, and reacted by crossing his wings behind himself to act as another barrier just before Torch threw his head forward and fired a point blank Cero blast, one that was laced with swirling crimson fire.

The wings on a Vollstandig were among its most durable parts, and Shining Armor’s were extraordinarily tough even by those standards. Still, a full power Cero beam, at that range, fired by an Arrancar as powerful as Torch, was not something to laugh at. As Shining Armor’s barrier still held off Torch’s spinning axe, his wings took the brunt of the Cero, but they couldn’t shield Shining Armor entirely. His back still got scorched by the raw heat and power of the Cero, even as it was split apart into multiple streams of energy as it was parted by his wings. Pain shot through Shining Armor and he grit his teeth to keep from crying out as he focused  and raised his bow to fire straight up.

The arrow he fired burst only a few meters in the air above him, its reishi particles shaping into a series of rod-like barriers that fell back down like precisely aimed rain. The hexagon barrier rods smashed into the axe, knocking the weapon aside. Another cluster of rods hit Torch, smashing into his body like high speed javelins of rebar. None of the rods penetrated his insanely tough flesh, but they did drive him downward and interrupted the flow of his Cero, sparing Shining Armor a moment to recover. He used this to fly upward, turning to aim his bow down at Torch as he drew back another brilliant white arrow. The Bastion was not solely a defensive power. By forming barriers into shapes suitable of offense, Shining Armor had a versatile repertoire of attacks he could potentially unleash.

One such example was when he fired his arrow, it acted as a central catalyst for forming a barrier shaped like a pyramid the size of a whale, its pointed top aimed right for Torch’s chest. The Espada let out a rough laugh and with a gesture from his hand his axe came spinning of its own accord to Torch’s waiting grasp. With a mighty swing he brought the axe blade around to meet the pyramid-shaped barrier as it speared towards him. The two struck with seismic force, making the air tremble.

Torch held the pyramid at bay, but Shining Armor wasn’t done. He rapidly fired another arrow that shaped itself into a cylindrical barrier, like a giant hammer’s head, which rammed itself into the bottom of the pyramid and drove it hard into Torch like an over-sized railroad spike.

Sparks flew as the pointed head of the pyramid scrapped by Torch’s axe, jabbing itself into the Espada’s right shoulder. His supreme Herrio caused even his skin to erupt with sparks as the pyramid’s point bored into him. Shining Armor directed the cylindrical barrier around, intending to hit the pyramid again to try and break through Torch’s defenses. However a second later Torch managed to get a solid grip on the pyramid barrier with his free left hand. While the barrier’s energies burned Torch’s skin, this didn’t slow the Espada at all as he used his raw might to pry the pyramid out of his shoulder, leaving his first actual, bleeding wound of the fight. He then shoved the pyramid back, and proceeded to take his axe with both hands and raised it above his head. The axe flared with red light before Torch brought it down in a powerful stroke that hit the pyramid like a bunker busting missile striking an iceberg.

The pyramid cracked, the barrier’s energies shattering. Shining Armor still sent the cylindrical barrier flying at Torch, but the Espada swung his axe like a baseball bat and did to that what he’d just done to the pyramid. As shards of dissipating barriers fell around him like snow, Torch held his axe over his shoulder in a resting position and laughed up at Shining Armor.

“You’re not half shabby, boy! Here I thought I drew a short straw getting a whelp like you for an opponent, but you’re putting up a decent scrap so far. This sparkly, wannabe angel transformation is packing some punch. I like it! Now keep up the pace and don’t disappoint me!”

Torch literally started marching up into the air towards Shining Armor, like a floating terminator. He clearly wasn’t in any rush to end the fight, and was deliberately taking his time to advance upon Shining Armor, who couldn’t decide if the Espada was being overconfident or not. Torch clearly had power to spare.

Have to pin him down and immobilize him. He’s too strong to try and keep trading attacks with, even with the Bastion helping on defense. I need to take him out before he uses his Resurreccion.

Shining Armor was confident in the power of Vollstandig, but not arrogantly so. It was no great secret that in terms of raw power, the Espada were likely the strongest of the “elite” warriors fielded by the three factions of the spirit war, and it wasn’t hard to see why. The Espada were the ten most powerful Hollows in all of history, and it was a bloody history filled with an endless struggle of natural selection that ensured whoever held a place in their ranks were not there by accident. For the longest time the Sternritter only matched them by virtue of the Schifts granted by His Majesty, and their superior numbers. Rarely had a Sternritter fought an Espada one on one, the way Shining Armor was, and had an even chance of emerging the victor. Vollstandig improved those odds considerably, but considering this was the transformation’s first real test in battle it was up in the air whether it’d provide enough power to ensure a Sternritter could even the playing field, at least where the upper ranks of Espada were concerned.

Yet Shining Armor couldn’t afford to call in backup. He could sense his fellow Sternritter were almost one and all engaged with their own fights, and some of those fights were against Espada even stronger than Torch. He feared for Jet Set, Upper Crust, and Harshwhinny. He didn’t have time to see what was happening with their battle, but he could sense parts of it. Even with Vollstandig it felt like they were having trouble with that bizarre Espada named Lament.

Even if he was stuck fighting Torch by himself, Shining Armor wanted to end this fight as fast as possible to go help his comrades.

Which meant he couldn’t afford to hold anything back. With a deep, calming breath, he drew back on his bow once more, forming a gleaming arrow.

The rays of pearly luminescence that flowed from his arrow only grew brighter as Shining Armor fired it straight down towards Torch. Well before it struck Torch the arrow halted as if it had sunk into a solid surface, and it was soon joined by five more precisely fired arrows that hit locations at equal distances from Torch, forming the framework of a simple, three-dimensional diamond pattern. Blazing lines of light strung themselves between the six arrows, the space between them filling in with nearly opaque barriers of pure white energy. This effectively trapped Torch in a floating, diamond shaped barrier that took up the volume of a modest mansion.

He immediately followed this with more arrows, eight this time, that formed the key corners of a square shaped barrier that encapsulated the diamond barrier. And he wasn’t done then. The square barrier was then enclosed by a spherical barrier that formed from thirteen arrows fired in a pattern that matched the positioning of the Ursa Major constellation. Sphere, square, diamond, all layered one upon the other.

Shining Armor’s five wings flared with a corona of white light, absorbing reishi from all around him in a glittering tempest.

This was currently his strongest offensive technique, developed specifically with his Vollstandig in mind, since he’d lacked the power to pull it off properly when using it before the advent of Vollstandig’s development. Before today this technique had existed solely on paper. Shining Armor hadn’t even had a chance to properly test it, but now was as good a time as any.

Sweeping a hand towards his multi-layered barrier prison, Shining Armor’s eyes narrowed in concentration and he intoned, ”Ausfuhrungszelle.” (Execution Cell)

All five of his wings flared to a larger size as they started to exude a thick rain of reishi bolts that flew into the prison and were absorbed into the barriers. The energy from these bolts transformed into swiftly moving lines of light that gained momentum with every second as they passed along a complex series of geometric pathways across the outer barrier. This energy then turned into straight beams as they transferred from the sphere to the cube, causing waves of radiant light to flow over the cube before the energy flowed into the diamond. With each transfer the reishi particles gained more power, pulsing brighter and brighter.

Finally the energy absorbed into the innermost diamond barrier holding Torch, who had been watching the display with open curiosity as to what this technique was. Torch had tried breaking the innermost barrier with an axe swing, but these barriers were much stronger than the ones from before, formed from the lion’s share of Shining Armor’s might, the young Sternritter pulling out all the stops with this technique. Torch’s axe bounced off the diamond barrier with a spark of radiant white energy that burned Torch’s hand.

Now, with the power gathered to focal points at both the top and bottom of the diamond, the technique unleashed its deadly strength.

Almost all of Shining Armor’s barriers were designed to destroy Hollow energies, damaging Hollows that touched them. The Ausfuhrungszelle took this to the next level by creating a multi-layered enclosure that amplified reishi to generate a concentrated field of this Hollow burning power. It was akin to a giant, anti-Hollow microwave.

From the top and bottom of the diamond a twin blast of pulsating white energy was disgorged, bathing Torch like he was caught between two waterfalls. The raw, scouring reishi covered Torch, causing the massive mountain of a man to growl in pain as sparks of white energy and flaming blue reishi chewed at his body. Tough as his Heirro was, this wasn’t the kind of direct physical attack that the hardened skin was ideal for defending against. The bath of destructive reishi particles tore at him on a more fundamental level, and it was proving effective.

Burns, like angry welts, started to appear on Torch’s skin. Within seconds he was starting to look like someone who’d been out in the sun too long, parts of his skin blistering from the continuous barrage of anti-Hollow energy.

And Shining Armor didn’t let up, sweat beading his forehead as he pushed out more of his power, wings continuing to let out a stream of reishi bolts that flew into the barriers to keep the pressure on. He had to destroy Torch before the Espada broke free. If he could just keep this up for a minute longer...

“Heh...”

Even with his teeth clenched tightly in pain, Torch’s laugh still reached Shining Armor as the Espada’s voice grew from a half grunted snort into a full bellied roar of laughter. “HehehahahaHAHAHA!”

There was a dangerous light in Torch’s eyes, like the stirring glow of an awakening volcano on the verge of eruption. Even as his body bore the brunt of the blistering damage being done to it by Shining Armor’s attack, the towering muscle man raised his axe and grinned with pleasure.

“Alright, boy, you’ve shown more than enough worth. Enough that I oughta stop calling you ‘boy’ and acknowledge you as a man worthy of being called a warrior. So, warrior, I’ll acknowledge you in the best way I know how...”

Torch’s whole body and his axe lit up with a deep, sanguine glow, a ruby wreath of energy engulfing him. The steel of his axe became so heated it looked like a shard of molten metal, steam wafting from its edges.

”Ravage; Guerra.” (War)

There was a single bloody spark of light, then a flash followed by a cacophonous detonation. Shining Armor’s prison was obliterated under the explosive outpouring of power, a shockwave throwing up a sea of sand and coiling up into the sky like a mushroom cloud. Indeed to Shining Armor it looked as if someone had all but dropped a small, tactical nuke on the battlefield, Quincy soldiers and Arrancar alike still locked in combat across the desert being thrown off their feet by the shockwave released by Torch activating his Zanpaktou.

As the wall of sand that had been thrown hundreds of meters into the air began to settle, Torch emerged from the billowing shroud of dust, a titan reborn.

He was unmistakably larger than his already massive previous form had been, standing now easily twenty meters tall. His thick, powerfully muscled body was covered in large, bony scales, like a phalanx of interlocked shields. Sharp spines protruded from these scales, giving each one a jagged look, as if mere contact with Torch’s hide could rip and tear a foe. A draconic mask filled with gleaming fangs covered a broad face bearing two gigantic, curled horns and a spiked crest, and a prominent and sharp horn rose from the tip of the mask’s snout. A long, thick tail was covered in more barbed scales, ending in a mace-like protrusion of gnarled bone. Reverse jointed legs led to large, saurian claws, the powerful muscles shaking the ground with each step. Torch’s goliath-like chest sported not two, but four arms with olympian muscle build, ending in meaty claws as large as pickup trucks. Each clawed hand bore a different weapon. The upper right hand carried a larger, more heavily curved version of Torch’s original axe. The upper left bore a long, dark spear with a barbed tip. In the lower left hand was a nordic style broadsword, long as a semi-truck trailer. Finally the lower right hand gripped a spiked flail, the ball dangling from chains as big as horses and thick as barrels.

Torch stood there for a second, as if to give those looking upon him a proper moment to tremble, before sucking in a deep breath and letting out a titanic roar that would’ve made a tyrannosaurus rex sound like a mewling kitten by comparison. Alongside the roar came a heavy weight of spiritual pressure that hammered on Shining Armor, making him feel like his bones were rattling down to the marrow.

Well, at least I know he doesn’t have any more transformations beyond this. Not that that’s going to keep me from getting my butt kicked in the next couple of minutes. Shining Armor thought with a sort of cynical inner humor.

He wasn’t counting himself out of the fight. Torch was disgustingly powerful, if his reiatsu was anything to judge by, but he wasn’t so far ahead of Shining Armor that he couldn’t make a fight of it. Still, he didn’t have anything stronger than his Ausfuhrungszelle to use, and Torch wouldn’t get caught by that move twice. If Shining was going to have a chance, he’d have to find a chink in Torch’s armor, some weakness he could exploit.

After roaring, Torch fixed Shining Armor with a hot blooded gaze, and Shining Armor prepared to defend himself.

“You held up pretty good against Lord Tirek’s Cero,” Torch said in a voice that was now loud as a brass orchestra, “Do me a favor and let me know how well mine stacks up to the Primera’s, will ya? Been awhile since I’ve cut loose.”

“Ahh crap...” Shining Armor muttered as he sensed the insane power build up from within Torch, the Espada opening his draconic maw where a deep, hellish light bled up form his throat.

Shining Armor immediately created a multi-layered barrier in front of him, firing multiple arrows to create several stacked domes. He’d expected a Cero discharge from Torch, perhaps something of similar style to the humongous beam that Tirek had unleashed. Instead what he saw was Torch expel a inferno blast of dark crimson fire, but not at Shining Armor. The flames of bloody red fire were instead aimed at Torch’s spear. The Espada bathed his massive spear in the river of red fire, and the weapon almost instantly started to turn a solid, pulsing red as its metal was heated. Rather than melt, it looked to Shining Armor like the spear drank in the fire, pulsing with a heartbeat throb of power, gleaming rays of blood light flowing across its surface.

What is he doing? Shining Armor wondered, while Torch just grinned and raised his spear, which now shone an almost solid, bright red with the energy contained inside.

”Cero Fragua” (Cero Forge)

Torch flew upwards, his huge bulk still able to move with the blinding speed of a Sonido. Appearing in front of Shining Armor, Torch rammed his spear straight into the barriers Shining Armor had created. The blazing spear tip penetrated into the multi-layered shields of reishi, and would have been stopped by the Bastion’s power, despite Torch’s boosted physical strength. However just a second after the spear broke part way through the shields, the Cero energy contained inside the spear was released.

Shining Armor had to throw himself back from the giant donation of power that cracked his remaining shields and filled the air with a twisting sphere of explosive Cero energy. Even moving with a full speed Hirenkyaku, Shining Armor still felt a concussive force slam him backwards, almost knocking him senseless. He barely had a second to recover before Torch advanced on him in a whirl of weapons. His four burly arms worked in tandem, and each individual weapon came at Shining Armor in a storm of thrusts, slashes, and crushing blows.

For a few moments it was all Shining Armor could do to just defend himself. Every narrow miss still caused pain from the shockwaves generated by the raw strength of Torch’s blows. Quickly formed barriers kept him from taking direct hits, but the barriers were broken like panes of glass from single blows. Worse, each weapon struck at different ranges, with the spear and flail making it hard to get any distance due to their reach, but the axe and sword making it exceedingly dangerous to stay at close range.

Shining Armor had to resort to allowing himself to take the brunt of a flail strike, softening the blow with a barrier but still getting knocked aside hard by the flail’s spiked head, just so he could put a few dozen meters between himself and Torch. Now bleeding from a wound on his scalp, Shining Armor turned and fired a barrage of several scores worth of barrier rods, each one blasting towards Torch as fast as cruise missiles.

Torch took the blows like an ice breaker surging through the arctic waters, each barrier rod impacting with his thick, scaled hide and either breaking or bouncing off with seemingly little damage. Shining Armor grit his teeth in frustration, but not surprise. He figured that since Torch’s Hierro was the strongest of the Espada’s, that his defensive power was skyrocketed to new heights with the unleashing of the Arrancar’s Resurreccion. Those scales covering Torch were so saturated by the Espada’s massive reiatsu that they were essentially the ultimate defense. Shining Armor wasn’t going to be able to penetrate them, no matter what attack he threw.

Which means instead of trying to break through them I need to find a way to bypass them altogether, he thought, but he had precious little time to formulate a strategy as Torch breathed more fire upon his weapons, this time crossing all four of them in front of his mouth. The storm of ruby flames got all the weapon glowing solid red. Torch spun the flail, so fast its glow created a bright circle of light in the air before he hurled it towards Shining Armor. The chain extended, letting the gleaming flail head extend all the way towards Shining in a split second.

Hurting to the side, Shining Armor just barely dodged, but was caught by surprise when the Cero energy detonated anyway, apparently able to explode out simply by Torch’s will. So the flail head essentially became a bomb, an explosion of energy buffeting Shining Armor and sending him flying into Las Noches’ wall, ironically not far from where he’d slammed Torch not so long ago.

“Ugh... not looking good, Shining, get it together,” he told himself, shaking his head to clear the ringing and fog the impact had created. He did so just in time to see the spear coming like a red thunderbolt, and he threw himself downward, all but running along the wall. The spear impacted above him and blew out a massive chunk of Las Noches’ wall, sending multi-ton chunks of rock flying outward and raining upon the ground. Shining Armor dodged several of these rock chunks, some of them the size of large trucks, and he used one to spring off and fly across the desert, skimming the sands as he spotted Torch and took aim with his bow.

Concentrating on the reishi of the sands around him, his wings shone with bright light as multiple rivers of spirit particles broke down around him and he gathered the power in order to form a barrage of seven pyramid barriers, even larger than the one he created before. It took nearly all his focus to gather the power as fast as he could and shape the seven huge, pointed constructs, the Bastion’s power being the only thing making it possible to form these strong, complex barriers within a handful of seconds. He fired them, six in a circle around a seventh one in the middle, and sent the pyramids hurtling towards Torch.

Torch recalled his spear with an outstretched hand and flew down towards Shining Armor and his barrage of pyramid barriers. The still glowing sword and axe swung down, and Shining Armor’s pyramids were met with twin explosions of destructive Cero power, filling the sky with a blanket of red energy. Torch sailed through the explosion, having ripped through four of the seven pyramids. The remaining three struck him, hammering at his scales. For a second Shining Armor felt a surge of accomplishment as he saw one or two scales break free, but with a twist of frustration on his face he saw that beneath those broken scales was another layer of scales.

Now Torch unleashed his fire upon Shining Armor directly, mouth vomiting a waterfall of scarlet destruction. Shining Armor formed a dome shaped barrier around him to deflect the flames, but these weren’t really normal flames, but the raw power of a Cero distilled into a form that happened to look like fire. That meant they didn’t just burn, but hit with great impact, and continued to push in on Shining Armor’s barrier as long as Torch disgorged the flames. This effectively kept Shining Armor pinned down until Torch landed, crashing feet first upon the barrier. The barrier still held, but Torch brought all four of his weapons down at once, breaking the barrier like a dinner plate.

Shining Armor narrowly avoided getting crushed by those weapons, but still took a taloned kick to the gut as Torch lashed out with a foot. Skidding backwards, Shining Armor used his bow to grind himself to a halt, and sank to one knee, breathing hard.

“You done? I hope not. You’re one of the toughest I’ve gone up against in awhile. I don’t want this to be over too quick,” Torch said, breathing fire upon his axe this time, lighting it up like a blazing beacon.

Shining Armor rose back to his feet, wiping blood from his face, and stood tall. He wasn’t about to give up just because he was in a pinch. If nothing else he was keeping Torch occupied, and while he was wounded he wasn’t running out of spiritual energy any time soon. Vollstandig was a tiring transformation, but Shining Armor’s reserves of power, and the amount of reishi he could draw upon from the Hueco Mundo desert around him, ensured he could endure Torch’s assault for awhile.

Son, we have a problem.

His father’s voice almost startled Shining Armor, but not so much that he wasn’t able to dodge Torch as the Espada swung his Cero-charged axe, detonating a fifty meter wide crater in the desert as Shining Armor zipped away, firing arrows in a thick hail at Torch’s face, more to irritate his foe than any hope of hitting a soft spot like an eye.

Dad? What’s happened? Shining Armor asked, alarmed by the dire note in his father’s mental voice.

Rather than hear his father respond through the mental link of the Command, Shining Armor instead saw a flicker of movement above him. Torch, who had started to give chase after Shining Armor, instead found himself halted by a massive spear sized reishi arrow that struck him squarely in the chest. While the powerful arrow didn’t manage to punch through Torch’s scales, it still halted the Espada in his tracks, and even drove him back a step.

Shining Armor knew those arrows well, his father having always focused on perfecting the basics of the Quincy techniques rather than relying on complex tricks. There was no special power to Night Light’s arrows, they were simply the result of taking the basic reishi arrow to a near perfect level of construction so that even one of them packed the power of dozens of lesser arrows combined.

“It’s Twilight,” Night Light said, landing next to Shining Armor with a dour, hard look casting his features in stone, “She’s been taken.”

Those few, simple words were enough to put more fear and distress coursing through Shining Armor’s veins like a winter breeze than facing off one on one with a full power Espada had.

“Taken!? What do you mean taken!?”

Night Light’s grim look flinched, “I was careless. Too busy orchestrating the battle to see what happened until Cinch reported to me. A Hollow took her. She’s alive, but I can’t sense where she is, other than she was taken beneath that lake.”

Shining Armor turned southeast, ready to abandon everything to go after his sister, but his father laid a wire hard hand on his shoulder.

“Wait.”

“No! If Twily’s in trouble, I’m going after her!”

“And leave this-” Night Light nodded towards Torch, who was brushing off his chest and giving the pair of Sternritter a grumpy look, “-unfinished? No, we must defeat this one first before we can chase your sister. That’s why I’m here. Between us we can end this quickly, then proceed to find Twilight.”

Shining Armor felt a mix of cold rage and heated denial form into a tight ball in his gut, held back only but the steel hard logic and duty that spoke in his mind, no matter what his heart struggled to go do. His father was right. They couldn’t leave Torch in his Resurreccion state to wreak havoc on the battlefield. They had to defeat him first, before mounting any attempt to go rescue his sister. Shining Armor hated that fact, but it made it no less true.

“Yes, father,” he said dutifully, but there was a hard edge to his voice.

“Well, can’t say I like getting sucker punched, but I’m always willing to let more people join in the sport,” Torch said, rolling his shoulders, “The more the merrier, eh?”

Night Light and Shining Armor both regarded the Espada heatedly, the pair forming up in ready combat stances. Torch cracked his neck, his eyes ponderous as he regarded the two silent Sternritter.

“You blokes need to learn to loosen up. I got my own daughter fighting out here and you don’t hear me moaning and groaning in worry over her. She’s a tough gal who can take care of herself. What, you got no confidence in your own daughter’s ability to survive? Don’t you know a father’s supposed to give their kid room to grow?”

“You’ll understand if I don’t take any parental advice form a soul eating monstrosity,” Night Light said, raising his bow, “Shining Armor, follow my lead.”

“Yes father,” Shining Armor said, and the two moved as one, leaping into the fray as Torch chuckled darkly and charged to meet them.

----------

To Lament the constant, unending sensation of the battlefield was dulled to a narrow tunnel of gray. The thickly layered staccato of roaring explosions, sharp screams of the wounded or dying, and an undulating sea of numerous other noises might as well have been little more than static white noise. Even his spiritual senses, capable of feeling every movement of the other Espada, and picking out the individual Sternritter moving against them, along with the shifting sensation of hundreds of other combatants, didn’t do more than garner passing notice from him.

Part of that was because Lament just didn’t consider any of that information relevant to himself. Any or all of his fellow Espada could die and Lament would feel nothing about it. The only reason he cared about this battle at all was the knowledge that the Quincy had to be defeated in order to ensure his family’s safety.

The other part was that he knew that strange Sternritter, Harshwhinny, was affecting him with an ability that was dulling his emotions. He knew this because the ocean of painful regret that defined his being felt like it had a insulating layer between it and Lament’s consciousness, like a thin sheet of plastic wrap over a rotted apple pie. It left him off balance, but also in a way, more focused. He hadn’t intended to do more than was necessary to drive his opponents off, but now that he felt even less emotionally attached than normal, he saw no reason not to kill those in front of him. He didn’t hate the Quincy the way he hated his fellow Hollows, but they were a threat, and threats needed to be removed.

No different than exterminating vermin on the farm. He twitched. What farm? There wasn’t a farm. An orchard of dead trees on his tower, and his family in the tower. His children, who needed their father’s protection.

A stream of acid nearly splattered across his face if he hadn’t ducked aside at the last second, and his eyes slide casually towards Harshwhinny. His thoughts, fragmented as they were, were still able to track his three foes, even in their newly transformed state.

Harshwhinny had probably changed the most, her body covered in glowing tubes that gleamed with an inner churning light of intermixing blues and greens. She had two wings that looked as if they were forged out of a combination of luminous blue metal and clockwork, exposed gears turning between the long, bolted feathers. She wore a halo that was also vaguely gear shaped, slowly spinning in place above her brow. The multi-nozzled device on her right arm had now been mirrored by another one mounted on her left, and these had been responsible for discharging a constant jet stream of acidic liquid that had kept Lament busy dodging almost as much as the tendrils from Jet Set.

Jet Set himself had gained a pair of wings that were essentially like two large, thinned out tendrils that glowed with a golden aura around their otherwise blue coloring. These wings appeared to be able to spawn more than twice as many grasping and striking tentacles of reishi as the man had been producing before, and even his circular halo of light writhed with small tendrils that floated in the air as if he was underwater. Between Jet Set and Harshwhinny there were enough attacks coming at Lament that a literal fog was filling the air from just how much sand was being kicked up constantly.

Still, if it had just been those two Sternritter, even with these new transformation, Lament felt he wouldn’t have so much trouble. It was the third Sternritter, Upper Crust, who was tipping that balance.

”Urteilspfeil!” (Judgment Arrow)

A reishi arrow shaped like a large iron javelin topped by the five pointed Quincy cross landed next to him and instantly expanded a field of white energy that blanketed him before he could dodge. The field of energy caused no damage, but in a small flash of white light a brand in the shape of the Quincy cross appeared on his the flesh of his right arm to join another brand that had already been placed there by a similar arrow a few moments earlier.

He felt the brand take effect instantly as Upper Crusts voice speak imperiously from above.

“For your crime in injuring my darling husband, I, the Judicator, find you guilty! The sentence is pain!”

And pain lanced through Lament, stemming from the brand. He didn’t respond to this, not even with a grimace. He was used to pain, but it was an irritation. With the first brand she’d proclaimed something similar, citing his crime of ‘Being a Hollow’ and stating the punishment was locking away his Cero. Just to test it he’d tried firing a Cero at her right afterward, and found that there was a block of powerful reiatsu limiting his blasts. His own reiatsu was strong enough to push past the block but his Cero’s power was reduced by about half, he estimated. The fact that her next brand was inflicting raw pain on him suggested to Lament that Upper Crust realized she couldn’t limit his powers too much with her own, so the pain acted as a more indirect attack in hopes of distracting him.

Well she would be sorely disappointed if she thought mere pain would slow him down.

Even as Jet Set sent a dozen flashing gold and blue tendrils spearing for him and Harshwhinny unleashed multiple streams of melting acid at Lament’s other side, with the barest motion he sent himself soaring upwards, aiming right for Upper Crust.

Like the other two Sternritter, Upper Crust had transformed into that odd winged state. Her wings were strangely shaped, formed from a latticework of small beams of light that took a vague, bent wing shape around what appeared to be two flat, horizontal discs, one on either side of her. Lament had noticed that over the course of the fight the discs changed their positioning in complete disregard for how Upper Crust moved, one lower or raising in no pattern than he’d been able to figure out. Her ‘halo’ actually looked more like a shroud of glowing light blue cloth around her eyes, like a blindfold. Not that this seemed to impede her vision, because she saw Lament coming and let out a small yelp as she threw herself to the side at high speed, trying to avoid his blade.

To her credit she was faster in this form than she’d been before, and instead of getting her head cut off she instead got a deep cut across her shoulder that sprayed blood through the air. Strangely, the moment she got injured, the disc in her left wing went lower, and the disc on her right raised. Lament took note of that as he pressed his attack, swinging for Upper Crust’s neck again.

This time she blocked, bringing her ‘bow’ to bear. It’d changed shape to seem less like a bow and now had the shape of a broadsword with a white blade and hilt of blue energy. Yet the blade’s hilt also extended into a laurel shape that acted as the ‘bow’ of the weapon. As she barely managed to block his sword strike the laurel portion of the weapon flared and she leaped back, firing a stream of arrows from the tip of the sword. He deflected them with blurring parries of his long bladed katana, and would have rushed her again, but a cascade of tendrils flew up from below and nearly speared through Lament if he hadn’t flickered out of the way with Sonido.

“Get away from my wife you filthy Hollow!” Jet Set shouted as he soared up around to Lament’s side, a continuous swarm of tendrils expanding from his Vollstandig wings. These tendrils flowed around Lament in a complex web, hundreds of them surrounding him. Each tendril of the Kraken pointed inward at once, like being encased in an iron maiden, and they all stabbed in at lightning speed.

Lament dodged and parried in a blur of precise motions, his perceptions narrowed to laser focus. These new tendrils, empowered by the Vollstandig, were much harder to cut than before. Lament couldn’t easily sever them, but he could still knock them aside as they sought to pierce Lament’s body. He deflected dozens per second, his sword constantly ringing as he parried a stream of hundreds of striking tendrils. While he did so he noticed that Jet Set had left an opening in his wall of tendrils, one where Harshwhinny appeared with all of her acid throwers aimed. Instead of concentrated sprays, the nozzles now unleashed a rapid barrage of acid globs. These flying orbs exploded in bursts, filling the area with acid droplets.

Even with Lament’s speed, he was still stuck either choosing to evade the acid, or the tendrils. There just wasn’t room for both. So instead of bothering to dodge, he instead thrust a finger towards Harshwhinny. As he did so acid burned his skin, and several tendrils managed to pierce into his body, but Lament ignored that and fired a focused, emerald Cero at Harshwhinny.

Even at half power, his Cero was focused enough to force Harshwhinny to quickly evade, and even then the tight beam still managed to burn a painful chunk out of her side. Lament wasn’t done, either. He kept the beam going, whipping it around and pushing as much power as he could through the brand’s lock. The sickly green beam tore through the wall of tendrils around him like pruning shears, and Jet Set was caught off guard, left staring at the beam that cut towards him.

Upper Crust swooped in at the last second, yanking Jet Set aside before the beam could bisect him. Even so, the beam still grazed the two Sternritter, searing Upper Crust’s leg to blackened flesh and causing her to scream out in pain.

Jet Set also cried out, but in fear for his wife as he grabbed her and bore her to the ground, where she could barely stand on the hobbled leg.

Lament moved to take advantage of the situation, but something was starting to bother him. He didn’t understand what it was, but seeing Upper Crust and Jet Set trying to protect each other was causing a stir within him. The deep, dark well of intense regret that formed the core of his being was trembling. The only thing that seemed to be keeping the emotion at bay was Harshwhinny’s own ability, which kept the sensation to a dull, unpleasant throb. As Lament charged down at the two Sternritter, appearing before Jet Set and Upper Crust in a snap of Sonido, he had the strangest image in his head of a field of apple trees. He had a wavering sensation of deja vu, and heard the sound of a woman screaming in his head. But it wasn’t Upper Crust’s voice, but someone else. What was she screaming? Why did the sound fill him with even more anguish and uncertainty?

He pushed the feeling aside. It didn’t matter. He had a family to protect. Whatever strange feelings were being stirred up by seeing Jet Set and Upper Crust struggle against him was irrelevant compared to the lives of his children.

Even as Harshwhinny gave chase to him, firing streams of acid at him which forced Lament to flicker left and right with Sonido, he still advanced on Jet Set and Upper Crust.

Upper Crust, hobbling on her one good leg, stood to face him, but Jet Set grabbed her arm and said, “Upper Crust, fall back! You can’t fight with that leg.”

She threw off his arm, shaking her head, “If I leave, the Judicator will stop working.”

“It's not doing enough good anyway! Damn it, Upper, get out of here, while there’s still time!”

“I’m not leaving you!”

Hearing the two words, Lament felt another shaking feeling inside him, as if he’d heard a similar argument before.

”Run! Cider, get out of here!”

“I ain't leavin’ ya behind ya dang dolt!”

The voices in his head caused more pain than Upper Crust’s second brand did, like a spearing headache. Lament grunted, pushing past it as he doggedly advanced on the pair. He fired another Cero, this time back towards Harshwhinny, forcing the Sternritter to back off for a few seconds to avoid the deadly beam. This gave him an opening without having equally deadly acid being sprayed at him so he could focus upon Jet Set and Upper Crust.

Simple cold logic told him that Upper Crust needed to be eliminated first. He suspected her brands would vanish once she was dead, and he’d gain full use of his Cero again and lose the distracting pain. Even as he raised his katana horizontal next to him and raised his reiatsu to boost his strength, he felt a moment of hesitance, as if some part of him was fighting against what he was doing. He shoved the feeling down. His family had to be protected at all costs.

He burst forward with all the speed he could muster, his blade aimed straight for Upper Crust’s heart. She and her husband had still been distracted with their own argument, so Upper Crust didn’t see the strike coming fast enough.

But Jet Set did.

Upper Crust was shoved aside and it was Jet Set who got impaled rather than her, blood bursting out with the blade that stabbed out through his back. Crimson droplets of blood dripped upon the white sands, and Jet Set’s eyes wavered widely at the long blade gaping through his chest.

“JET!” Upper Crust screamed.

Jet Set, blood pouring out of his mouth now, gripped Lament’s sword and said, “Upper... run!”

He then used the last of his strength to unleash a swarm of point blank tendrils on Lament, piercing multiple parts of the Espada and shoving him back with a titanic impact through the desert. Lament tore his sword free as he was pushed back, ripping a wider gape in Jet Set’s chest, which caused the Sternritter to gasp, a blossom of blood spraying form his lips as he fell.

As Upper Crust shouted again in wordless cry and went to her husbands fallen side, Lament took stock of his own damage. He had numerous holes punctured through him, but unlike Jet Set, Lament’s wounds weren’t bleeding. Not even a single drop of red escaped the void-like, dark wounds.

“What... what is this?” Lament heard Harshwhinny whisper as she landed behind him, her acid throwers aimed at him but her eyes hesitant and curious as she stared at Lament’s perforated body.

Lament gave her a flat look, his voice carrying a hint of the growing unsteadiness inside him as he heard Upper Crust crying over her fallen husband.

“Of the Espada, my body is different. Deathless. I don’t regenerate as fast as others, but wounds mean little. Even if you punctured all of my organs, they simply don’t matter. Unlike yours, which bleed.”

He didn’t know why that was. It was true each Espada developed unique and powerful versions of regular Hollow abilities, like Torch’s near impregnable Hierro, but in Lament’s case he wasn’t certain if his own unusual body was the result of a similar effect or something else. All he knew was that no wound he ever suffered bled, nor did it seem like his lungs, or heart, or any other organs even functioned. The wounds would heal, slowly over time, but as far as Lament knew unless someone destroyed his body entirely he simply wouldn’t die.

A higher pitched scream from Upper Crust drew his attention, and he turned to see her cradling her husband. Jet Set’s head was limp, his eyes now sightless in death. His blood coated the ground and his wife, staining her white uniform red. The pain in her eyes was now matched only by a red hot rage as she stared at Lament.

“How dare you! You’ll pay! You’ll PAY!

In some calm, rational back part of Lament’s mind he noted that her left wing’s disc was now tilted fully down and the right one tilted fully up, and both were pulsing with flares of white light. Upper Crust stood, setting her husband’s body gently aside, and aimed her sword/bow at him.

“For the crime of murdering my Jet Set, i find you guilty! The sentence is death!”

The two discs suddenly snapped to equilibrium, and a fresh iron javelin, this one blazing with pure white light, flew towards Lament with a sonic boom of speed. He raised his free hand and caught the arrow, stopping it with a concussive shock wave of force. Even so the energy field extended around it, and a third brand appeared, this time over his heart. He felt a cutting pain pass through his body, but in moments it was gone. It took him a second to realize that what Upper Crust had tried to do was halt his heartbeat with her unusual power of judgment.

But she’d been too busy mourning her husband to hear what he’d been telling Harshwhinny, who of course immediately knew what had happened.

“Upper Crust, it won’t work! His organs are already dead! We have to destroy his body!”

“What?” Upper Crust blinked in shock, stunned her power had failed her.

It would have been the perfect opportunity to take her head off.

Yet Lament didn’t do so. Instead his eyes flickered towards Jet Set’s body, and then at Upper Crust’s tear streaked, horrified face.

An image in his mind appeared of another woman’s face, similarly marred by tears, filled with familiar anguish. And regret swelled inside him, unbidden.

Harshwhinny saw Lament’s hesitance as well, and in her own cold, practical mind she added things together and came to a conclusion. She didn’t know why, but it was clear that something about seeing Upper Crust’s pain and Jet Set’s death was affecting the Espada. Harshwhinny didn’t care why this was, only that it was clear that Lament was feeling severely disturbed by his own actions. And she realized her own Schrift, the Uncaring, was actually limiting the impact of those emotions.

So she shut the power off.

The effect couldn’t have been more severe. For Lament it was like a tsunami of emotions, held back by a tide-wall, was suddenly unleashed on him. Feelings that had only been frustrating and distracting suddenly became a full blown wave of unimaginable pain and sorrow. Black regret swept through him, hammering his mind. He wasn’t prepared for it, and within seconds he was backing away from Upper Crust and Jet Set in horror, his eyes dilating as he stared at the bloody corpse in front of him. But he wasn’t really seeing what was in front of him now, he was seeing something else. An apple orchard, and the blood stained body of a beautiful, strong red skinned woman. He didn’t know her, and yet he did, and her death wracked his mind and made him feel an arctic cold in his chest.

In a matter of moments Lament, muttering incoherently, ripped open a Garganta and backed up into it. Upper Crust and Harshwhinny were too surprised by Lament’s sudden change of attitude to respond before the Garganta slammed closed, the Fourth Espada having retreated from the battlefield. Yet it could hardly be counted as a victory with Jet Set’s blood cooling into harsh Hueco Mundo sands...