Episode 173: Sunset’s Gambit
Excited murmurs rose in tandem with an increased sharpness of hunger to the reiatsu of many of the onlooking Arrancar. Fearful as many inherently were of being anywhere near their ruler when he was about to do battle, it was impossible for any true blooded Hollow to not feel their spirits quicken with heated fascination when such violence was on the table.
Even Adagio, who wasn’t at all fond of this element of her own Hollow nature, couldn’t deny that her pulse quickened a bit, even as she was horribly worried about the outcome of this supposed “challenge”. She had an inkling of Sunset’s intentions, and could also admire the pure ambitious courage of it, but to her thinking this was still an extremely risky plan. Even with the likes of Discord present, Adagio was not at all certain he, that cattish woman Ditzy, and the somewhat unusual Gaia Everfree consisted of a force strong enough to actually defeat Tirek or the other high ranked Espada, if things turned sour.
Indeed if things did go poorly for Sunset and company here, Adagio had to make a choice herself on what would take priority, aiding in Sunset’s crazed gambit, or preserving herself and her own vassals. Before she could get very far in considering that dire question, however, Discord clapped his hands, the sound ringing louder and clearer than it normally should have. It drew attention to the elderly man in the clogs and hat, who smiled with shaded eyes as he spoke in an equally loud and unnaturally clear voice to all present.
“I suggest we give our two combatants more space for this event! Unless of course some of you fancy being roasted alive by flame or pulverized by stray Ceros. Perhaps the top of this fine fortress' wall will make a decent viewing space for our collective peanut gallery?”
Tirek, not taking his eyes off of Sunset, merely waved a hand back at his hordes of followers, his voice booming out, “Do as you will! Whoever lives or dies by merely being a spectator is of no concern of mine. I suggest moving quickly, either way.” He cracked his knuckles and reiatsu began to stem from him in such a thick spectacle that his body appeared to be burning the air around him, and weaker Arrancar in the gathered forces nearby began to choke from simple proximity to it, “Myself and this young lady aren’t going to wait, are we?”
Adagio certainly took the hint and threw a hand back at her gathered vassals, “Up on the roof, now! All of you! Gaw, Di Roy, with me!”
Torch followed suit, slapping his axe over his shoulder and taking to the air, “Alright boys and girls, you all heard the Primera! Either get your butts on the roof to watch, or stick around and risk becoming a smear on the ground!”
In a near hurricane wind, dozens of Arrancar quickly moved, or in some cases “fled” might have been the more accurate term, to head up towards the exceedingly tall top of Las Noches’ walls. The swift exodus was joined by the other Espada, first Guto, who gave the whole proceeding a displeased sneer before tugging on Fluer De Lis’ chain and forced the Quincy to follow him and his small entourage of warriors to leap up the wall. Grogar had narrowed his gaze towards Discord in particular, to which Discord simply waggled an eyebrow at the presently Ninth Espada. A soft growl built in Grogar’s throat, and next to him Hydia jabbed a fat thumb towards the wall.
“Best not to stick around, my Grogumgoat. C’mon, before the best seats are taken.”
“Hm, positioning is meaningless for myself. I shall be observing this battle closely, regardless of where I stand, but I take your meaning. Lord Tirek tends towards excess, even when he ‘plays’.”
One by one the roof area of Las Noches began to fill up with the spectators. Hard Nail went with Roka and Fenice, staying close to Adagio’s group, and once up there, Fenice whispered to them, “So that’s her?”
“Yes,” Hard Nail spoke softly back, a brief glance of fatherly concern crossing his pale face as he looked to her, “Does it bother you?”
Fenice folded her arms over her chest, her heavy robes making the motion a tad clunky. She kept her face hidden as she stared back down at the ground where Sunset and her friends stood, “A little. Mostly just ticked she seems so much stronger than me. Makes me feel like I’ve been slacking off.”
“Nonsense,” Roka said, “You’re you, she’s her. There’s no reason to make comparisons.”
“Heh, only you’d see an identical counterpart and think there’s no reason to compare, sis. Huh, makes me wonder what you’re like on the other side? I can’t... see you as a pony,” Fenice said, then shook her head and went silent as she continued to watch.
Discord had turned to Ditzy and Gaia, tilting his head upwards, “Let’s go ladies. I’m sure Sunset has this well in hand, but keep a keen eye out, just in case.”
“Oh I’m sure nobody here would be dumb enough to interfere, right?” Ditzy said, glancing at Gaia. Gaia’s eyes had never ceased to burn a hole towards Chrysalis, and she only blinked when Ditzy elbowed her.
“I’ve no intention of doing anything, unless they do first,” Gaia stated, then at Chrysalis she gave the most deathly of smiles, “That’s an invitation to interfere, by the way. Give me an excuse, Chrysalis. Just one small excuse.”
Gaia tensed as Chrysalis began to stroll up to her, the curved, sickle-like Zanpaktou in her grip nearly shaking from how hard Gaia gripped it. Chrysalis got within a single pace of Gaia and... then moved past her, pausing just briefly on Gaia’s other side.
“Patience, my dear friend. We’ve only just been reunited, and it’d be boring to rush through things. Let us talk, share stories, and watch the blood flow. Tirek puts on a fine show, and I can tell he’s in a good mood. And I’ve such things to tell you of, a story of a crystal princess whose lovely empire hosted such a fine party for me. You’ll love her so, when you meet her, so come, let me tell you all about it while we enjoy the fireworks.”
Gaia’s lips nearly bled from how hard she ground her jaw, eyes filled with seething murder, but she controlled herself, mostly at Discord’s encouraging nod. Sheathing her Zanpaktou with visible effort, Gaia spat, “Speak all you want, but I’ve no interest in your games.”
To this, Chrysalis just giggled and shouted to Tirek, “Have fun with your playmate, Triek. Me and Gaia are going to have a girl talk now.”
“Fine, woman. Just leave me be.”
With that, most of the space was clear, save for Sunset’s friends, and Catrina, but the Third Espada didn’t stay for more than a second longer. Just long enough to give Rainbow Dash a final, dismissive snort, before vanishing with a blast of such speed that it left a blurring afterimage of Catrina behind that was making several rude gestures at Rainbow before it vanished. Rainbow Dash, for her part, just laughed under her breath, “I think she was trying to show off.”
“Must’ve really nettled her somethin’ fierce with that ‘slowpoke’ comment,” Applejack grinned, “Think ya got yerself a rival, there.”
“Oh c’mon, we both know the only one around here who can pull that off is you, AJ,” Rainbow Dash said, then gave the space Catrina had occupied a considering look, “Although I guess that chick might work as a backup rival or something.”
“Okay gals, everyone else has cleared out,” Sunset said, “Time for you all to do the same.”
“Of course, darling. Just do be... careful,” Rarity said, side-eyeing Tirek.
“If things get intense, just remember our exit plan,” Fluttershy whispered, “I can heal a lot of different injuries now, but even I can’t replace anything important you lose. Like, um, limbs.”
“Relax, girls, we went over this. I mostly know what I’m doing,” Sunset reassured them, adding a silent I hope to the end of that sentence. Her friends didn’t look any less worried, but they did go, joining the others atop Las Noches’ wall. This left Tirek and Sunset alone, with the horde of lesser Hollows now having withdrawn to an even greater distance as they instinctively sensed the battle to come.
On an unspoken agreement the pair approached each other, Tirek and Sunset matching steps until they were facing each other from a mere meter away. Up close it was almost ridiculous how much taller he was than her, forcing Sunset to crane her neck to look up at his mountainous red expanse. She couldn’t stop herself from giving a small whistle of appreciation, “You’re all abs, aren’t you?”
His grin at her wasn’t particularly friendly, but it was at the very least pleasantly amused, “Form may not matter for those with power such as you and I, but I’ve always viewed my body as a temple worthy of upkeep. I want even the most dim witted of foes to understand my strength at a glance, before they feel it firsthand.”
“Intimidation factor, I get it. Hey, can’t say I blame you. I like keeping fit, even if I can probably bench press a city block by now. Exercise gives me focus, and it feels good to get sweaty.”
“Ah, a pity you likely won’t live long enough for me to show you my personal gym. Working out is quite meditative, I agree. But we’re not here for small talk,” Tirek’s grinning expression didn’t physically change, but a distinct tonal shift altered it into something vastly more menacing as his reiatsu fell upon her like a moon’s worth of hammers, “You’ve challenged me. I’ll grant you the small kindness of allowing you the first move. And I suggest making use of your Bankai, young lady. You attack me with that twiggy little Shikai, and I’ll have your heart, bleeding and pumping in my hand, before you can finish your first strike.”
Sunset knew, by the inflection of murderous intent in his tone, and the cloying scent of death in his reiatsu, that Tirek was not joking. If she attacked him with anything less than her full power, he’d kill her outright. This wasn’t going to be a playful sparring session, nor a battle where holding back and using Shikai made any tactical sense. That was more for situations where an opponent was either weaker, and hence it was useful to conserve power, or an opponent who was on a similar level and hence not showing all of ones cards right off the bat had a tactical advantage.
No, she was the weaker one, facing a vastly stronger foe. To do anything other than make use of her Bankai was just insulting, and the last thing Tirek seemed like a man to tolerate was being insulted. Not that she particularly cared about how he felt, but there was a stark difference between pride and stupidity, and Sunset Shimmer might have been prideful but she wasn’t an idiot.
She matched his oppressive stare with an eager smile, “That goes without saying.”
It started with a dull rumble, like a storm sighing on the horizon. It built within her then, trembling from within her soul and reciprocated by the blade and shield in her hands, both of which became rimed in a gleam of solid orange flame. The sands of Hueco Mundo steamed and began to melt from the heat washing off of Sunset’s body, her reiatsu forming a growing ripple of power that scorched the air as more and more pressure built within.
Upon the peak of Las Noches’ walls, the Espada that had yet to feel Sunset Shimmer’s reiatsu first hand before now all showed signs of surprise. Gilda wasn’t, the youngest of the Espada plopped down on the edge of the wall with a shaking expression of half shame and half understanding.
“This is ridiculous,” said Guto from not far away, his eyes twitching, “That girl hasn’t had her makeshift Soul Reaper powers for more than a few months! How is she emitting that much power!?”
Gilda flinched at his words, eyes shifting towards him briefly, and the Quincy glaring and kneeling beside him. Fleur and Gilda’s eyes met for a moment, and Gilda quickly looked away. As if emboldened, Fluer smirked behind falls of her long hair and whispered, “Hah, so the girl really is something unique? It seems everyone who crosses her ends up in an ignoble state. Somehow I feel just a bit less frustrated that I never got to finish my fight with her.”
Her smile was cut off by a grimace as Guto pulled on the chain around her neck, his own sweat beaded brow furrowing in anger, “Silence. You are not to talk unless spoken too. We have been over this lesson. Do not make me repeat it.”
“Hey, she was saying something that might be important,” Gilda said, blinking in brief shock that she’d just talked back to Guto. He, in turn, looked at her with mild surprise, slackening his grip on Fluer.
“What did you just say, Tenth Espada?”
“Urk...just that...seems like your pet Quincy fought that Sunset Shimmer, once. Might, you know, ask her about how that went. For intel, or something...” Gilda muttered, looking way, unable to look Guto in his eye as he held her with that pitiless stare that was always filled with judgment.
“Hmph, I don’t need to do such a thing. That girl is about to die. It doesn’t matter how much power she’s accrued. It can’t possibly match what our Lord Tirek is capable of.”
“You’re a very loud and rude man.”
“What was that!?” Guto spouted in anger, glaring towards the speaker, and tilting his head as he saw it was Fluttershy. The young lady had left her group of friends to come over and stand near Gilda, although for the moment Flutershy’s eyes were locked solely on Guto. The presently Seventh Espada felt his brow twitch as Fluttershy’s still gaze, like some call pool of serene water, bored into him.
“I said that you’re a loud, rude, boorish, and very unpleasant man. You have a lot of work to do on yourself, and if I’m being honest, I don’t even know if all the kindness I could possibly bestow would be enough to turn you from a self destructive path. That being said, be glad you didn’t choose to take up the offer to fight Sunset yourself. She’s not as nice as I am.”
“Why you conceited little-” Guto started to say, but halted as Sunset’s reiatsu reached a sudden, feverish peak, and all eyes, even his, had to be drawn back down below.
Tirek was now grinning from ear to ear, enjoying the feeling of the power Sunset was putting out, and would have instantly killed anyone foolish enough to try and interrupt the girl as she brought her full power to bear. He wanted to feel all of it, and felt a spark of genuine elation as she held her broadsword aloft and spoke a word all too familiar to him, heard many a time across many battlefields over the centuries.
“Bankai.”
In a second it was as if all the air in a vast radius around her was sucked inward instantaneously and then unleashed in an explosive eruption of raw fire that swept out in a solid cyclone of unrelenting flame that flew up into the sky. Las Noches was plastered with heat, bathed in ruby and orange light, and the darkness of Hueco Mundo was pierced skyward by the pillar of hellish flame that rose several hundred meters, eclipsing even the fortress’ colossal walls.
For the common Arrancar warriors, countless jaws hung open. For many of them they had rarely faced the likes of a Soul Reaper Captain directly, and the ones that had been on such battlefields knew instantly that the reiatsu that seared at their souls now was not only that of a Captain’s level, but of a particularly strong one. What overconfidence some of them may have had, melted instantly at the sight of Sunset Shimmer’s Bankai.
Among the Espada, reactions varied.
“Damn, Adagio, you didn’t tell me she was quite this good,” Torch mused quietly, and by his side Ember could only nod and glance at Adagio without holding back her astonishment.
“Is this really what magic does for someone? Now you getting so powerful so fast makes way more sense. This is insane.”
Adagio wished she could smile with any pride over this, but the fact remained that strong as Sunset was, there was no guarantee at all that it’d be enough. She maintained a guarded look on her face, trident planted firmly next to her as she raised her other hand in a half shrug, “She’s impressive, I don’t deny, but she’s still up against Tirek. It’s still a dice toss as to whether or not she’s brilliant, or a complete moron.”
On the opposite side of the crowd, Grogar was nearly drooling, but controlled himself with some measure of composure. Now, more than ever, he was convinced that magic was the key to furthering Hollow evolution beyond all known limits. If he could just get his hands on one of these girls, he could pull their souls apart at the seams to improve his knowledge and apply it to his grand experiments. The baubles he’d built from Adagio’s siren gem would pale in comparison to what he could make with just a little more genuine magic to research. Then again, Chrysalis had brought something most potent and intriguing form Equestria, so perhaps soon he’d get what he desired, regardless. And as for Adagio, he was impressed with her progress, but ultimately she no longer had much value as a subject of study. Her willful obsession with vengeance upon him was also losing its amusement after she’d stolen his Seed.
Yes, soon enough he’d need to deal with her, but for now, Grogar had such a spectacle to watch! He was glad he had so many observation drones hidden about, even if most of them were already shorting out due to the overwhelming reiatsu being put out by both Sunset and Tirek.
So focused was he on watching the confrontation between Substitute Soul Reaper and Primera Espada, he did not notice the sneaky pink form behind him, wiggling like a caterpillar of stealth to reach out towards his shoes. Shoes that, up until a short moment ago, did not have shoe laces, but now coincidentally did as Pinkie Pie tied them together and slinked away without Grogar, or anyone else for that matter, taking notice.
“Yikes, that’s one hot tamale. Your friend might not be half bad, even if she is about to get her pretty face pummeled into something more my style,” Hydia said, guffawing a bit at her own joke as she spoke to Rarity, “But don’t worry, even after Tirek’s done with her, I might take what’s left and shape halfway nice Fraccion out of it. Open offer to any of you girls.”
“Mmm, I don’t think white is really any of our color, Miss Hydia, and as for Sunset... well I do think she looks best in either black, or red.” Rarity’s response was well timed, for it was just as the flames of Sunset’s transformation died down enough that it was possible to see her and Tirek.
Sand was burned black or melted into glass for a large field of burning embers around either of them. Tirek remained unscathed, but he did look appreciatively upon the glowing figure before him. “Now that is not a shabby Bankai at all. It matches that tantalizing reiatsu of yours. But how well can you use it, I wonder?”
Sunset Shimmer was completely encased in her segmented, ornate armor of red and gold trim. From her back the wings of fire spread in intense sheets of raw power. In her right hand Hokori ignited with utter flaming heat around the shining flamberge blade, and in Sunset’s left hand Hikari’s golden form of a phoenix shield radiated gold flaming luminous energy from end to end. The band of gold metal around Sunset’s brow with its ring right in the center sparked with an odd bit of energy, as if something was trying to take shape there but hadn’t quite formed completely yet. Sunset wasn’t actually sure what that was about, but she felt stronger than ever and was glad to feel that with her Bankai active, Tirek’s own reiatsu didn’t feel quite as overwhelmingly oppressive.
Granted it was still damned overbearing, but she felt less like she was drowning in the ocean and more like she was treading water atop it now.
With no more need for further build up, she just winked at Tirek and said, “Let me show you.”
There was zero subtly in her first move. Her wings jetted with roars of sonic force, and her forward motion involved a Flash Step that was in no way meant to evade, but only add speed shattering momentum to her attack. It was her shield, Hikari, that rose like a blinding star, it’s blunt top edge erupting into Tirek’s chin with such velocity and impact that a concussive quake of force sent the sands behind the Primera Espada rippling like uncontrolled waves in the ocean. The shield uppercut knocked Tirek upward, laws of mass applying regardless of damage inflicted or not, and Sunset followed him up within the same microsecond of time before he even rose half a dozen yards. Hokori’s edge sung with heat that blistered the air as Sunset swung the flamberge up and brought it down in the same motion, striking Tirek straight on the chest and upon impact allowing a scalding cascade of fire so solid it almost appeared to be a liquid wave.
This fire turned sand to glass instantly and rose right to the wall of Las Noches, tearing into the stone recklessly and searing up it’s length. Arrancar scattered, scrambling to get out of the path of flames so intense that stone was running like muddy water down a near twenty meter wide expanse of wall from top to bottom.
Chrysalis was rather near the flames, but didn’t move, staring down with a feral smile plastered on her black lips as she watched the fight. The flames passed within inches of her, some of her clothing and skin steaming from the heat proximity, but she didn’t move away from the fire. If anything the burns only seemed to make her smile deepen.
“Oho... Starlight Glimmer, I had thought you’d placed too much trust in these little morsels, but perhaps I’ve misjudged where the main course of the feast to come truly is?”
Chrysalis’ words were lost amid the roar of fire and exclamations from the more easily shaken Arrancar in the crowd.
However Sunset had her attention only on the fight, and reacted immediately to roll back with a high speed Flash Step and shove Hikari into a protective position just in time to defend herself. The flames of her attack parted like so much dust around a headwind, and Tirek’s fist slammed out of the wall of fire with the weighted judgment of an uncompromising force of nature. His red skin looked barely scathed by Sunset’s attack, and she didn’t even have time to register his own flashing eyes that bore a thrill of amusement alongside his tooth filled grin of excitement.
She could only feel the indescribable force of impact on her shield that drove all air from her lungs and nearly bent her bones and muscles to the breaking point. She shot across the sands, her senses reeling to catch up with the sense of distance the blow knocked her across. Her left arm was near numb and it took all she had to slam Hokori into the ground and start dragging herself to a halt. As this happened, she shoved reiatsu through her sword and into the ground, not doubting for an instant that Tirek would be coming right after her.
Sunset managed to stop herself, seeing that she’d been thrown across nearly a mile span, and Tirek strolled towards her, apparently looking to take his time. Fine by her, she activated the power of the Midorihi Hashira, the explosive, mine-like energy of the technique lighting up the sand she had dragged her Zanpaktou through.
Tirek walked along as the ground beneath him exploded in multiple pillars of swirling emerald flame... and just kept right on walking, each explosion seeming to just lick uselessly against his skin as he began to laugh with a shine of violence laced through it. “Your flames have a bit of bite to them, but I trust this isn’t all you have? Come on now! Make this worth my attention!”
His Sonido put anything she’d seen before firmly in the dust. If she hadn’t been expecting it and hadn’t already been in motion herself, his punishing downward swing as he appeared instantly in front of her may well have pulverized her into the ground. As it was the first of the Primera Espada struck and before his fist could even contact the ground, the simple air pressure of the punch was creating a cratering explosion of sand that tore apart the ground around him in a tornado of swirling sand. Sunset felt her ears nearly pop from the twisting air pressures of that punch alone, but didn’t lose her focus, sensing his reiatsu clearly amid the cyclone of sand.
She burst through it, wings blazing hot, her speed creating dozens of after images as she tried to strike at him from both behind and in front simultaneously. In a show of equal speed and force Tirek bent one arm down and caught her blade between a knee and elbow, while his fist caught the sword of her after image, which shimmered out as the impact of his and her own combined motions blew apart the sand tornado in a sphere of force that blasted out with such strength that it sent cracks running up and down the length of Las Noches’ wall and shook the ground for dozens of miles around.
Undeterred by her blade being caught, Sunset roared her own inflamed defiance and twisted her body up and around, wings adding rocketing force to her motions as she kicked Tirek in the side of the head, then flipped around and brought the pointed tip of Hikari’s shield right down on top of the joint of his elbow.
It felt like hitting a steel wall, only she knew damn well she could tear through steel with ease. Tirek’s Hierro possessed a hardness that dwarfed any physical alloy Sunset knew of, and probably most magical alloys she knew from back in Equestria. Tirek smirked at her and his free fist was brought around in a whirlwind swing. She had no choice but to let go of Hokori in order to dodge out of the way, her boosted Flash Step sending her flying back just in time to avoid a blow that would have hit her in the side and likely smashed all of her ribs at once.
Even missing, Tirek’s fist created a rippling shockwave that blew apart a wide rift in the sands of Hueco Mundo, leaving a five foot deep ravine for an uncounted length. Not missing a beat, Sunset planted herself on the ground and used her now free right hand to make a gesture and swiftly chanted, fast as Clover had ever managed to teach her.
”Hado Number Fifty Four; Haien!” (Abolishing Flames)
From her palm a thick and concentrated bullet of purple fire shot out, and Tirek watched it come with a slight raise of his eyebrow, for surely Sunset couldn’t possibly think such a mid-range Kido would have an effect on him? Yet it wasn’t him she’d been aiming at, but her Zanpaktou, still caught between Tirek’s knee and elbow. The purple flame of the Haien spell reached Hokori, and in the same instant the Zanpaktou, sensing Sunset’s intent, burst with its own field of hot orange flame. The Kido spell, a fire-type in nature, and made of Sunset’s spirit energy, harmonized with Hokori’s own flames and in an split second the entire aura of fire around Hokori became intense purple as the blade absorbed the Kido spell and added it’s incinerating force to its own power.
At the same time, Sunset hadn’t stayed still, having followed her Kido spell with a Flash Step that let her grasp Hokori’s hilt the moment the spell had been absorbed into her blade.
”Aoihi Senko!”
She cut as hard as she could with both hands while blue fire merged with purple flame, and a swirling multi-colored firestorm blasted out upon Tirek at point blank range. She felt his grip on her sword weaken just enough for her to slip it free and she flew back as the pillar of her purple and blue fire expanded into a melting sphere of heat so intense that it was melting a crater on the spot.
For just a second she looked at where she was. She did her best to memorize her position, and looked for the cluster of dead trees that Adagio had told her about some time ago.
There they are!
She gauged the trees were about two hundred yards to her left and a little further away from the wall. Which meant her target would be...
Reiatsu battered her senses as Tirek’s might pulsed and the dance of her flames burst like a bubble. The fires died out around him and Tirek strode on empty air as he exited the melting crater of running sand. His body was smoking slightly, and Sunset took some tiny measure of pride in seeing his skin was a tad redder now, although it was starting to truly dawn on her just how tough a foe Tirek really was.
“I think I felt a little pain on that one. You’ve a beautifully destructive Zanpaktou, little missy,” Tirek said, cracking his knuckles and neck, “But I think I’ve let you get in your fair number of shots. I’d say it’s time for me to show you a taste of what you’ve chosen to face. Not just my destructive power, but the power of the peak. The peak she and the rest of Zero Division represent! Let’s find out if your pride is genuine, or simply fueled by ignorance.”
He raised his right hand and extended his index finger. A flicker of orange and black power sparked into existence there at his finger’s tip, and yet despite the tiny dot of energy’s size, Sunset immediately felt the crushing grip of the building reiatsu there, feeling as if she was trying to stare directly into the sun.
“Oh shi-” she said partway and immediately threw all of her power into an evasive Flash Step, her wings burning bright with jets of thrusting force that cracked the sound barrier instantly as she flew up.
Tirek simply crooked his finger forward, and that small dot of churning orange and black reiatsu abruptly flashed into a tidal wave of fury; a Cero so large that it dwarfed even Las Noches’ gates. The color of a black and orange sunspot, the consuming Cero rushed across the landscape and morphed it through its space warping presence. Tirek swept the beam up and to the right, following Sunset’s evasive motions. She was zipping in and out of view, adjusting her Flash Step to try to throw him off, but the Cero beam was so wide it hardly seemed to matter.
In a last ditch effort, she turned and propelled herself straight upward, but facing backwards as she held Hikari in front of her and braced herself behind the shield. The humongous Cero wave crashed below her, the edge of it grazing her shield. The proximity of the beam sent pain coursing through her as arcs of energy that sparked around the beams edge snapped around Sunset’s body. She choked back a scream and kept her shield firmly in front of her, feeling the strain as Hikari struggled to push back the force of even the near miss of the Cero.
The beam roared onwards, cracking parts of Las Noches’ walls from the fact that it passed by along the wall’s length with only a few dozen meters to spare.
“Tirek, do recall we need an actual fortress left after this, will you?” Chrysalis called down, “Remodeling is a boring pain to deal with!”
Tirek grunted, “Whatever. Nagging woman.”
But he did cut the Cero beam off, leaving dust and debris scattering down for miles around. His eyes scanned the black sky, seeking where Sunset had gone. He knew he hadn’t actually hit her. He smiled as he sensed her reiatsu behind him, and in a blur of motion spun around to meet her charge. He was a tad disappointed to see her blade striking at him in a wild fashion, leaving herself wide open. Irritated, he struck hard with his fist right into her chest, feeling her armor crack, flesh rip beneath, and-
White flame exploded as the clone of fire detonated right on top of him.
He had to admit her fire was impressively hot. Enough that he could actually feel a bit of a sting from it. He was also starting to admire that this girl wasn’t an idiot. She was making use of every single advantage and opening she could take against him. When he’d turned to strike this clone of flame, she’d come flying down right out of the sky above him and he looked up just in time to take a face full of shield.
The blow didn’t hurt, but the force was impressive enough to knock him back a step, and his eyes sparkled with entertained fury as he saw her now pull back and thrust her flamberge forward at his throat with enough force to create a cone of force around the thrust.
He was fast enough to swing up his arm and deflect it, but was momentarily surprised that he felt a bit of a tiny sting from the blade’s edge.
Are her strikes getting hotter? He wondered, looking at her more carefully as Sunset Shimmer pressed the attack upon him. Her sword and shield worked in concert with each other, a lower jab with the shield’s phoenix-head point followed by a blazing backswing from the sword. Each time Tirek slapped the attacks aside with her bare hands, but on she came, striking faster, her wings burning hotter as they jetted her left and right as she began to attack so fast that he was essentially parrying blows from around eight to ten Sunset Shimmer’s at once.
All the time Tirek relaxed into the rhythm of it, enjoying himself as he carefully read Sunset’s reiatsu. He didn’t notice the destruction around him as her blows, even deflected by his fists, were wreaking the desert. Jets of flame burned entire sections of wall or melted sand dunes as Sunset’s relentless storm of blows smashed towards him. Of course she probably didn’t realize how little damage she was inflicting, but the fact that she was making any small scratches at all was surprising to Tirek. Surprising, and exciting. This had simply started as a diversion to teach a nuisance a lesson, but was starting to gain his real interest.
And by now he could tell her blows were getting stronger with each hit. Or more specifically, each time his fist impacted with her shield.
Ah, so that’s how her Zanpaktou works. It’s not just able to manipulate and absorb fire and fire based spirit energy. Any force directed at the shield serves to empower the blade. I wonder if it has a limit?
It had to, otherwise she wouldn’t have bothered to dodge his Cero. As he casually considered how to go about testing the limits of her shield, Sunset Shimmer drew back suddenly, pointing her sword forward at him like a lance. The orange flames around it quickly turned to a brilliant cobalt blue, coiling into something more like a solid bar of pure blue heat than mere flame.
Again she spoke the attack name he’d heard before.
”Aoihi Senko!”
Tirek watched her come as she burst at him full speed, her wings empowering a Flash Step beyond sound and approaching something closer to light itself. He was intrigued. The last time she’d used the move it had been a wide, spherical burst, but this time the heat of the attack was focused on a singular point around her sword. So she could manipulate it to that degree? He was starting to like this girl and her versatile, bloodthirsty little Zanpaktou.
His own Zanpaktou was starting to quiver. Not with a mind of its own. Arrancar Zanpaktou did not have separate spirits. Rather the reflected spirit of his own Hollow energy and nature from within his Zanpaktou was shaking with an eager hunger to consume this girl as she came flying at him like an azure valkyrie.
Tirek held up his left palm and Sunset felt her Zanpaktou impact with it. She didn’t step, shoving all of her momentum and strength into shoving her blade forward, burning a good portion of the energy she’d stored up from the repeated hits on Hikari to both empower the heat of her Aoihi Senko’s flames, but also to add strength to the force of her wings pushing her forward.
As absurdly strong as Tirek was, he didn’t have enough grounding on Hueco Mundo’s sands to resist being pushed back, and Sunset went out of her way to angle her thrust so that he wasn’t just pushed backwards but that both of them went tearing across the desert at a curving angle.
Her goal wasn’t to injure Tirek, although that would be a nice bonus. No, she was trying to get him into a specific position. At the same time, she was attempting to output as much reiatsu as possible, while getting him to do the same, hoping that by doing so they’d be blanketing the area with so much of it that none of the Espada would notice what else might be going on around them.
If all was going according to plan, the others should be making their move any second now.
----------
Twilight was still disturbed by the void of the Precipice Realm, but it was at least a tad less frightening when she considered that with the power of magic she could readily teleport back to Earth without much trouble. Her research on establishing Quincy portals that didn’t rely on using half-alive Gillians was progressing, although she’d been so distracted by other ventures she hadn’t had time to get the prototype fully functional yet.
At this point she was relying on Discord’s own portal to maintain the connection between the human world and Hueco Mundo while she worked. She was floating in space, standing upon a slice of blue energy that she generated from reishi to act as a platform for herself and her companion. Although said companions could easily form a platform of her own, Twilight preferred to just maintain one herself. It’d make masking her reiatsu easier if she didn’t have to worry about Sweet Cider also having to mask hers.
The Tenth Division Captain stood with apparent calm, but Twilight felt the way the woman’s foot kept tapping while Twilight worked on the device in front of her; a small portable computer hooked up to an antenna array that was criss-crossed with Quincy alchemic tubes.
“This is takin’ too long,” Sweet Cider said, “I oughta go through.”
“Not yet,” Twilight said, not looking up from her computer screen, “It’s only been a few minutes.”
“Against somethin’ like Tirek, a few minutes is too damned long,” Sweet Cider insisted, one hand slipping towards the Zanpaktou sheathed over her shoulder, but Twilight stood and faced her then, holding up a hand.
“Please just wait. Sunset knows what she’s doing, and the others will send the signal soon, I’m sure. Just... control yourself, okay?”
Words Twilight was trying very hard to follow as well. To say that standing here alone with Sweet Cider was awkward for Twilight was putting things in the mildest terms. Twilight was keenly aware of who Sweet Cider was, and it bubbled up all sorts of unpleasant complicated emotions that Twilight really didn’t want distracting her right now. The woman’s husband had killed Twilight’s mother, and for all Twilight’s desire to put that past behind her, it remained a painful sticking point in her heart.
She did her best to ignore it, while Sweet Cider breathed hard through her nose and let her hand fall away from her blade, settling instead with gripping her hands on her hips and redoubling the tapping of her foot.
“Hate this waitn’ crap, is all.”
“Ideally you won’t even be needed,” Twilight said, “If everything goes according to plan, Sunset will beat Tirek’s challenge, and we’ll succeed at our mission without the Espada being any the wiser for it.”
She went back to her computer, taking in and letting out a deep breath of her own that barely calmed her nerves. Just in front of the floating disc of reishi she and Sweet Cider stood upon was a tiny crack of light, pale silver from Hueco Mundo’s moon. Discord was keeping the smallest portion of the Garganta between his shop and Hueco Mundo open, and Twilight’s device was set up to scan for signals directly into that realm.
Come on Fluttershy, Rarity, I need that signal...
----------
Back she drove him, a sparking blue comet wreathed in amber flame. Sunset felt every fiber of her muscles scream, her bones aching from the power she thrust through her body and shook her whole being. Around her she felt her reiatsu strain and clash against the unbelievable tidal surge of Tirek’s immensity, and she felt like a schooner in a storm trying to crest a vast wave with all her might.
And she was halted. Breathing hard, she saw the azure fires of her Aoihi Senko die out against Tirek’s palm finally, and saw she had driven him some distance from Las Noches’ walls. In fact they were just about right where she’d hoped to place herself, although that small unknown victory still felt small compared to the fact that for all of her effort she stood with sword extended, Tirek’s palm clenched around the tip of her blade.
He grinned down at her with prideful scorn, but then his eyes showed a shimmer of curiosity as he leg go of her sword and looked at his palm. Sunset saw it too, her own breath shaping into a gust of a laugh as her lips twitched into a smile.
A small droplet of blood fell from Tirek’s palm, where her Zanpaktou had given the Primera Espada, King of Hueco Mundo and strongest of all Hollows, an actual cut upon his crimson flesh. The single drop of blood hit the white sands at his feet, and steamed like molten lava.
“Well now, isn’t this a surprise?” Tirek said, his smile deepening as he clenched his fists at his immense sides and Sunset felt as if a great hand was clenching around her from a cloying increase in his spiritual pressure. “If this match was to first blood, you’d be claiming victory, and more I the fool for not taking this seriously enough. As it stands, I’ve yet to draw my sword. And now I think I’ll be taking this very seriously.”
Sunset was halfway to thinking up a quip when he moved, and a good deal faster than he had before. She barely had time to register his fist, her shield only part of the way to raised before that immense hammer of red slammed right into the side of her face. Everything spun into a kaleidoscope of pain as she felt herself bounce over they sands in a tangle. She struggled to get a thought through her skull, which swam in a dazed mire. She tasted blood in her mouth and bursting from her nose, sharp and copper scented.
On instinct she used her wings to blast out power and control her motions, halting herself in mid tumble, although just enough for her to sag to the ground and struggle to shake her head to clear the cobwebs. She felt the pressure wave of Tirek’s presence behind her and she was this time only just able to spin and raise Hikari up to guard. This time Tirek was bringing down both his fists, clenched together in a classic sledgehammer blow. Sunset felt the wave of force flatten against her and start breaking the ground beneath her feet even before the impact hit her shield, and the air flew from her lungs and her knees buckled under the blow. For a few seconds all was sand and sound as she was driven to her back, planted at the bottom of a widening crater.
But not just any crater, one that had the broken walls of several now caved in tunnels. Tunnels she knew belong to part of Grogar’s laboratory, because this very location she was aiming for happened to be where his lab was located.
Back up on Las Noches’ walls, Grogar let out a choking noise as he said, “Gah! Those idiots! If they fight there they’ll- wha!?”
His shout came from the fact that Grogar had moved to step off the wall and go warn Tirek that they were fighting near his lab, but found himself rather quickly thrown off balance due to having tied shoelaces. He kept from falling flat on his face, but glared down at his shoes in astonishment. “Shoelaces!? I don’t wear...”
He heard a giggle form nearby, and murder burned in his eyes as he looked up to see Pinkie Pie a short distance away, wearing a beaming grin as she waved at him. “Heya Groggster, you need to be more careful or you might end up taking a long trip somewhere. Heheh!”
“You!? I was trying to ignore your very absurd existence, you abomination against the laws of physics!” Grogar shouted, snapping the shoe laces with ease, which dissipated or nothing now that the gag was complete. He pointed a gnarled finger at Pinkie Pie, “I swear by all the laws of science that one day I will have you strapped to a specimen tray for complete and thorough dissection, if only so that I may properly understand your abhorrent abilities so that I may ensure they are never replicated again!”
“Wow, you really can’t take a joke at all, can you?” Pinkie Pie said, then her mask shifted and her eyes changed from blue to yellow as her smile grew a great deal more curly snark filled, “Then again you take a joke every time you look in a mirror, don’t you?”
“Perhaps I’ll just eliminate you here and now then?” Grogar said, but paused as he noticed that on the other side of Pinkie Pie, Discord stood and was staring right at him. Discord’s eyes were shaded by his hat, but still gleamed with violent promise as they stared at Grogar, daring the Ninth Espada to try anything. Grogar, veins throbbing on his withered brow, held his tongue and looked back towards the fight, where he now knew his main laboratory was in great danger. Yet there was little he could do, for to go out there and interfere with the fight would likely get him killed if Tirek forgot himself for a moment.
And while the majority of onlookers were thoroughly distracted by the battle, and Pinkie Pie’s antics, Fluttershy and Rarity shared a brief and clandestine glance with one another. They nodded almost imperceptibly to each other, and got to work.
Carefully, slowly, and doing her best to mask her reiatsu, Rarity formed a crystalline tendril into the wall beneath her feet, and started to extend it towards Fluttershy, who in turn very carefully waited to feel the tendril touch her feet from below. Once done, Fluttershy used the smallest, concealed part of her own reiatsu to extend her powers into the crystal tendril, which once Rarity felt this, she continued to burrow the small tendril through the wall, undetected, towards her intended goal.
Fleur De Lis.
Meanwhile Sunset Shimmer pushed herself back up to her feet. Her left arm was roaring in pain from what she felt sure had to have been a fracture or two. She wasn’t sure when she’d cut her brow, but blood was coating her face from both her head and nose, not to mention the cut lip. She was looking rather like a mess, standing at the bottom of a sandy crater amid a few broken underground hallways. The ground shook with footfalls as Tirek, now no longer in a hurry, walked down the crater towards her.
“Hmph, I nearly forgot that Grogar set his lab up around this area. No matter, a little damage shouldn’t be an issue, and you’re looking quite near done,” Tirek said, but found himself trailing off as he saw Sunset’s shield gleam with pale golden light. Sunset breathed easier as this light, like licks of pale flame, curled up her body and some of her wounds closed up. Although she knew her left arm was still in bad shape, at least she could still move it now. Her shield’s healing ability wouldn’t do her much good if Tirek got even a smidge more serious, however, so she knew she had to finish this soon.
Not giving Tirek a moment to consider the sight of her healing herself, and knowing she had to act fast now that she was in position, Sunset enacted the last phase of her gambit.
”Shiroihi Yume.”
From Sunset’s form rose a sheet of snow white fire, expanding around her in a circle. From this circle shot forth a score of clones, identical to her in every way save for the flickers of white flame that still clung to them as the clones converged upon Tirek. He sneered at the clones, “A trick such as this will not impress me, girl!”
His right leg swept up and cut left in a devastating heel kick that sent out a cutting shockwave that annihilated three of the clones in a single instant. Three more clones stabbed in behind him and with resounding speed he spun around and back handed one into the other two, the trio exploding in hot detonations that bathed Tirek in flame, but did little to slow him down as he began to systematically go after the remaining clones. Each clone darted about, cutting at him, coming from above, below, to the side, any angle they could, but Tirek met each one with a fierce kick or punch that carried with it the punishing force to shatter the earth.
“Utterly pointless,” he muttered as he gripped the last clone around the neck after it leaped straight at him. His fingers crushed deeply into the clone’s throat, and he scowled as it exploded, washing him once more in white flame that barely scorched his skin, “If this was the last ditch effort you had, I can only say I’m disappointed. You started off strong, but seem to be getting more desperate...um, ugh, okay, where are you?”
Tirek was genuinely annoyed with himself for having lost sight of the real Sunset Shimmer while he’d been dispatching her small army of flame clones. He was alone in the crater, near as he could tell. Then he sensed her, or rather her reiatsu, which had spread out in a wide pattern in the desert around the crater. Tirek smelled an acrid stench in the air and felt the intense heat radiating from above, and just as he began to rise upward to see just what Sunset Shimmer was up to, he saw it.
Fire coated a wide area of a near fifty meter radius around the crater, concentrated in a sheet that had melded into the sands and turned a massive area into a pool of molten glass. Molten glass that Sunset now controlled as she directed the heat and fire within that giant pool of glass and sent it hurtling like a pile of scathing sludge directly into the crater and right on top of Tirek.
The crater filled in seconds with the steaming orange pool of molten glass, and Sunset Shimmer flew upwards, getting as much height as she could as she withdrew the heat from the glass so it would rapidly cool and harden. It did so with a loud hiss, the crater now a misshapen lump of hard, soot black and partially opaque glass, with Tirek in its center.
This did not last more than a second before Tirek’s own spiritual pressure billowed outward and utterly shattered the mound of glass. He rose upward, brushing bits and pieces of the makeshift glass prison from his body, a bit of a smile returning to his face, “Well, at least that was creative. Still not enough.”
“I know that!” Sunset Shimmer said. By now she’d flown up to a point a few hundred feet directly above Tirek, and she held her Zanpaktou’s blade out to her right while down the center of her shield a seam opened and light spilled forth as Hikari split to reveal a groove into which Hokori’s blade could fit.
“I know no trick or lesser technique would ever do more than scratch you, Tirek! But would you have really been satisfied if I used my trump card right from the get go? Where’s the fun in that?”
“Hah!” Tirek threw his head back and bellowed a laugh, sensing the sudden and intense uprising of Sunset’s reiatsu and realized she was about to lay her full cards on the table, “You’re right! There would be no fun at all in just crushing you instantly. Sure you don’t want me to make you a Hollow after this? You have the spirit of one.”
“Not for me, thanks. Now, you’ve taken everything else I can throw at you, but let’s see if you can handle this! I promise this next attack is the best I’ve got.”
With a single smooth motion she slammed Hokori into the groove of Hikari, merging blade and shield into one form, blade meeting with the tip of the shield’s phoenix head while the blade’s handle extended into a longer shaft that Sunset could grip with both hands. Now more like a giant bladed spear than either sword or shield, Sunset pulled back in preparation for a massive swing. Flames coiled up from her wings and around her body, then around the Zanpaktou itself. However, whereas when she’d used this attack once before the flames had been blue, now they were not merely blue, but intermixed with deep funnels of black flame. Sunset grunted in pain as her hands started to burn, the black flames drawn up from the apex of her Zanpaktou’s powers still not entirely under her control. She had to draw upon her wrath to summon these flames. It wasn’t that hard to do in this instance, for Tirek represented much that Sunset was angry at. His forces had hunted her friends since the beginning. Twilight’s mother died due to a war that Tirek’s own actions only continued to spur on. More of the people Sunset cared about would likely suffer because of Tirek’s plans, and he fully intended to invade her homeworld and consume who knew how many souls?
Sunset wanted nothing more than a peaceful solution to the war, but a part of her knew that the man she was facing was much more an obstacle to that peace than someone who would ever likely be part of the solution.
So wrath wasn’t such a hard emotion to tap into, in that moment.
This was only amplified as she saw him grinning up at her, crossing his arms over his perfectly sculpted chest of imposing muscle. Tirek raised his chin, as if daring her to hit him with her best.
She was only too glad to accommodate.
”Saishu-Tekina Hidori no Kuroi Tsubasa!” (Final Phoenix of Black Wings!)
Her Zanpaktou slashed forward, and from it emerged a magnificent phoenix of solid fire, larger than a jet liner. Its form was still forged of beautiful cerulean flame, yet its wings were marked by curling feathers of pure black fire, and its talons streamed with the ink colored flame that carried with it the power of utter destruction. The phoenix descended, its heat and light extended so far that it began to smoke and melt parts of the walls of Las Noches.
Upon those same walls, many lesser Arrancar, on pure preservation instinct, fled from the wall and went further up the roof. The Espada, Sunset’s friends, Discord, Ditzy, and Gaia all remained, but all could feel the immense wave of spiritual pressure from Sunset Shimmer’s attack.
Catrina stepped back and considered Sonidoing to safety, although pride kept her feet otherwise rooted. Guto started, mouth parting open in shock. Hydia blinked in incomprehension. Torch looked on with grim appreciation, but also stepped protectively in front of his daughter. Hard Nail showed no expression, but like Torch remained close to his kin, Roka shading her eyes while Fenice risked raising her hood just enough to look with awe at her counterpart from another world. Gilda did her best not to look like she wanted to flee, stepping closer to Flutteshy without even realizing she’d done it.
Grogar, for his part, was shouting in sudden realization that his lab was directly in the way of this attack, but his words were swallowed by the roaring noise like a hundred tempests from Sunset’s attack.
Chrysalis smiled, thickly laden with sudden interest and hunger.
For Adagio, she watched with a critical eye, taken aback by Sunset’s strength but also calculating as she raised her trident. Water summoned forth to form a protective shield in front of herself and her many present vassals, blunting the extreme heat that descended from afar. While it wasn’t necessary to do so, Adagio wasn’t about to miss a chance to make it clear to her people that she was their protector and provider. Meanwhile she inwardly wondered if this power of Sunset’s was greater than her own, and if it would be enough to win through this challenge against the most powerful of all Hollows.
It did not take long to find out.
The phoenix fell upon him, and Tirek did not seek to evade it. It happened so fast that it was impossible for any to clearly see exactly what Tirek may have done in defense, but his arms did move right before impact.
When the immense bird of blue and black flame did impact, it drilled itself downward right into the ground, creating a titanic whirlwind cylinder of fire and raw spirit energy that was so destructive that there was no part of Las Noches that did not shake from it. Like a finger of godly fire, the cyclone of blinding blue and utter black swirled skyward and split wide open the desert of Hueco Mundo, generating melting ravines of raw molten glass for kilometers in all directions. The air itself screamed as every bit of moisture evaporated from it for hundreds of yards around, and the resulting roar of sound from the explosive fire itself beat at the eardrum of every entity present.
The hordes of tens of thousands of Hollows that had fled miles back from Las Noches were forced to flee further still, stampeding in terror from the great and horrifying sight of the colossal pillar of blue and black flame that pierced the sky even as the phoenix that gave the pillar form drilled deep into the ground.
And Sunset all the while remained where she was, drained by the use of her final attack. Merging the Final Phoenix with her newly acquired black flames was a logical next step, but doing so was far more draining than she’d expected, and she grimaced in pain at the burning of her hands. She could still hold her Zanpaktou, but by now Hokori no Hikari had reverted to a sealed katana form. She didn’t have the energy to maintain Bankai after that attack.
She watched as the flames of heat and energy finally petered out, the summoned phoenix having expended all of its power upon drilling its target, Tirek, down into the sands. Sunset saw that the crater that had already been there was now a singularly massive hole, easily a few hundred meters across. She couldn’t even guess how deep it might be. Rivers of molten rock and glass poured down the sides of the hole like glowing waterfalls. She saw barely a few remnants of underground chambers, most melted beyond recognition, and she smiled.
That smile depended more when she heard Grogar howl.
“My laboratory! You cretinous little human! Do you have any idea how many experiments I still had running in there!?
Nope, and I don't care. Destroying your lab was one of my main objectives here, you shriveled old bastard, Sunset thought, feeling immense relief. Even if her challenge against Tirek still failed, she had at least achieved one of her actual goals. Hopefully Rarity, Fluttershy, and Twilight had taken care of their objective, too.
Harmony knew Sunset had done her best to provide the best distraction she could for it.
Grogar’s outburst aside, there was quite a bit of silence in the wake of her attack, a fact that Sunset did take a fair bit of pleasurable pride in. She could see many of the Espada were staring right at her, most of them in either shock, or careful reappraisal of her. Good. That also had been one of her intentions in doing this. She wanted the Espada to see what she was capable of. In a sense she understood that was a bit of a tactical disadvantage to show her cards, but at the same time it was necessary to make it clear that the members of the Canterlot Spirit Coalition had teeth and were willing to use them.
Now if only that was enough for Tirek...
She peered down into the hole, slowly descending until she touched the edge of the hole, almost as much from a need to rest as a desire to get a closer look. “Man... just how deep did I manage to make that hole?” she wondered aloud.
“I’d say about four miles, maybe five.”
Sunset froze. She slowly turned her head around to look behind her.
Tirek stood there, not more than a few paces away. Sunset almost spun to strike with her sword, sealed or not, but paused as she started to do so, noticing two very important details that left her feeling a sudden burst of elation in her heart.
One, Tirek for the first time showed an injury that wasn’t just a scratch. His chest was marked by a noticeable burn scar that started from the left collarbone and went down towards his right waist, several inches wide and bleeding along the edges. It wasn’t a deep wound, far more superficial than anything else, but it was a wound. She’d wounded the Primera Espada! Indeed he had other burns on his body as well, along his arms and legs, and even some of his face showed bleeding scorch marks; all surface level, but still! And the main scar on his chest was broken in the center. There was about half a foot of space around the center of his chest that was unmarked by the burn.
And the reason for this was the fact that his Zanpaktou, massive and golden, was drawn and held in his right hand.
Sunset smiled, unable to halt a girly giggle as she pointed at his chest, “You blocked it. With your sword. You blocked my attack.”
“Hm?” Tirek raised his sword, then shrugged, cracking a smile of his own, “It appears so. I didn’t even intend to, but I suppose thousands of years of combat instinct will make your body do things even when you don’t intend it.”
“Heheh, does that mean my attack was so amazing that it triggered your ancient Hollow combat instincts?” Sunset said, unable to stop looking pleased with herself. She knew she was acting a tad like Rainbow Dash right that moment, which wasn’t exactly being a humble winner, but she couldn’t help herself.
Tirek rolled his eyes, but his own pleased smile didn’t fade, “It was a... passable technique. Unfocused, however. You’ve only used that move a handful of times, haven’t you?”
“You can tell that easily?”
“I have not risen to my rank by chance, girl. Your talent is immense, your innate power truly astounding for one so young, but it’s obvious from that little bout that you lack the massive body of skill and focus one such as I possess. Were this a genuine fight to the death, I’d have your head detached from your body and bouncing in the palm of my hand by now.”
“Lucky for me then this wasn’t a fight to the death, but just to get you to draw that big, sharp bling of yours,” Sunset said, pointing at his Zanpaktou, and Tirek gave a simple nod as he tossed the blade upward suddenly. The golden Zanpaktou spun and spun until it descended, with only a small motion of Tirek allowing the blade to seamlessly slip into the sheath on his back.
“Indeed,” he said, and before she knew it, he’d moved and had a hand on her shoulder. He applied immense pressure in a mere instant and Sunset cried out in pain as her weakened body was pushed down onto her knees by Tirek’s unyielding strength and painful squeeze onto her shoulder. He loomed above her, still smiling, but with an aura of menace flowing from his own undiminished reiatsu, “But don’t let that go to your head. Destroying Grogar's lab may have been either accident or intention, but either way if I didn't know full well that man can recoup such a loss I'd be quite a bit less amused with you right now.”
Just as fast he let her go, and Sunset grunted, standing and glaring up at him, “Sore loser, much?”
“Hah!” Tirek laughed, “I like you, girl. I’ll still kill you when you and your idiot friends get in my way, but I like you.”
With that he turned and with one mighty leap, went up into the sky. Halting at the level of the top of Las Noches’ walls, he looked upon his fellow Espada and the gathered forces of Arrancar, and sucked in a breath to bellow, “It is my decree that Sunset Shimmer had passed my challenge and proven herself and her Coalition worthy of our attention as the mighty forces of Las Noches! So earning my respect, they will be granted the boon of an embassy. However let it be known that any member of this ‘Coalition’ is not granted any more amnesty than any other Hollow, and while they may seek to do as they will here, so too shall any and all of you consider them as much fair game as you would any other Hollow who walks within our walls! Remember, the truest rule of all Hueco Mundo is the rule of might! Fight for what you desire, and if you lack strength, the more worthy will take your desires from you!”
Sunset listened to this, and the subsequent uproar of less than pleasant cheers from Arrancar who seemed all too happy now to have new, possibly tasty neighbors, and could only feel a bit of relief that at least this tenuous first step for the Canterlot Spirit Coalition was complete. But there was far, far more to come, and she’d just gotten a very up close and personal feel for precisely how powerful the peak she and her friends sought to surmount truly was.