Crushing Espada (III) [BLEACH UNIVERSE]
It was obvious that Tier was left extremely unsettled after she finished watching the memories. “What was that?” Even though various emotions were swirling inside her, she decided to show a strong front. Tier knew that she needed to be strong, especially for her Fraccion.
“Before killing Aizen, I copied his memories since I needed to know where he had hidden the Hogyoku” Kaguya answered. “I simply decided to show you what he thought about the Arrancars” Kaguya added after a moment.
Tier wanted to protest or at least say something in retort, but she decided to remain silent. Maybe, Kaguya was telling the truth or maybe she was lying, Tier did not know for sure, but the truth was, regardless of what she thought Aizen was dead and the Arrancars were left to fend for themselves. Tier knew that she could not beat Kaguya and she realized that opposing Kaguya would not be good for their health.
However, she would be keeping an eye on Kaguya to see if the woman was worthy of her trust her not...
“Fine. I will join you” Tier finally agreed, earning a small smile from Kaguya.
“Good. I am glad that you decided to join me” Kaguya said with a soft smile on her face. “Now, why don’t you go and join your Fraccion” Kaguya suggested and immediately opened a portal for Tier. The Espada gave her an appreciative nod before stepping through the portal.
As soon as Tier was gone, Kaguya frowned as she started to tap her chin with a thoughtful look on her face. The results of her manipulations weren’t so bad… Maybe, she could manipulate some of the other Espadas in such a manner…
~~3rd Clone~~
The Clone stepped out of the portal and found Coyote Starrk, who was trying to sleep and Lilynette Gingerbuck who was pestering him. Lilynette froze at her arrival and turned to look at her and she wasn’t the only one who noticed the Clone’s arrival. Even though Starrk was lazing around, he slowly turned around to look at her. “Who are you?!” Lilynette asked rudely while pointing a finger at her.
“I am Kaguya Otsutsuki” The Clone introduced herself.
“How did you get here?!” Lilynette asked angrily while glaring at her. The Clone noticed that even though Starrk looked disinterested, except for watching her, he had been listening intently. Thanks to Wiki, Kaguya knew exactly what kind of man Starrk was. Even though Starrk looked lazy and unmotivated, he was an extremely loyal person.
“I simply opened a Portal and stepped through” The Clone answered truthfully. Lilynette scoffed at her disbelievingly, but Starrk looked at her contemplatively.
“You mean a Garganta?” Starrk asked with a hint of interest in his voice as he sat up.
However, instead of answering him, the Clone simply opened a portal to show him. After all, sometimes a demonstration was way better than a long-winded answer. “Oh…” Starrk mumbled as he ran his fingers through his hair. “Then what brings you here?” Starrk asked and Lilynette was surprised to see Starrk taking something seriously.
“I am here to recruit” Once again, the Clone answered truthfully.
“Lady, we already work for someone” Starrk pointed out tiredly, earning a nod from the Clone.
“I know. I killed him” The Clone revealed, earning a gobsmacked look from both Starrk and Lilynette, but before either of them could protest or retort, the Clone cast a Genjutsu on the two of them to show that she was telling the truth. Not only that, the Clone also slightly tweaked their minds. She didn’t do much… She simply planted a seed inside their minds that would slowly make them trust her.
The thing was, Starrk was not like the other Arrancars… Even Tier was more ready to fight than Starrk. The man would use whatever excuse to avoid a fight… Yes, he genuinely cared about the other Espadas and felt bad about their deaths, but even then he would avoid fighting seriously. Additionally, Kaguya didn’t want Lilynette to die.
If the Clone fought with Starrk then Starrk would be forced to fight her without holding anything back and if he did that then Lilynette would eventually stop existing. If that happened then Starrk would also lose any motivation to live…
“So, he is truly dead” Starrk mumbled feeling angry and lost… He was loyal to Aizen, but the man was dead. A part of him wanted him to attack the woman and avenge the man, but he knew that he would simply be throwing away his and Lilynette’s lives if he did that. If he died then Lilynette would die too and he wanted her to live and not die so meaninglessly.
“What?! How do you know she is telling the truth?!” Lilynette screamed in frustration, but it did not look like Starrk was going to change his mind.
“Don’t” Starrk warned her as he gave her a look from the corner of his eyes and Lilynette immediately shut up. She knew that Starrk was rarely serious and if he was being serious, then you better listen to him. “I believe you” Starrk said as he looked at the Clone. He knew that the woman could be very well lying to him, but he already suspected that something might have happened to Aizen when they lost contact with him.
Yes, it was possible that something came up and Aizen was unable to contact them or something, but even though nobody wanted to believe it, they knew it was also possible that something might have happened to him. Nobody said it out loud, but all of them thought about it… He knew that. He may be lazy and unmotivated, but he was good at reading people.
“What do you want from us?” Starrk asked warily as he stared at the woman in front of him.
“For now, nothing” The Clone answered. “However, I need to know if you are willing to join me or not” The Clone asked, making Starrk almost groan.
He simply ran his hand through his hair looking tired. “Fine. We will join you” Starrk agreed, earning a small smile from the Clone. It was obvious that Lilynette wanted to protest, but she decided to keep her mouth shut. She could complain later and she knew that Starrk was much smarter than the others thought.
“Good. Then I shall leave you to your own devices. After I am done recruiting, I will be gathering everyone for a meeting” That was all the Clone said before leaving through a portal…
When Lilynette was sure that the woman was gone, she finally whirled around and glared at Starrk. “What was that Starrk?! Why did you join her like that?! She could have been lying, you know?” Lilynette gushed out feeling, angry, annoyed, and frustrated. Lilynette simply couldn’t understand why Starrk allowed everyone to walk over him when he was the strongest Espada.
Starrk gave her a tired look before releasing a sigh… “You may not have felt it, but that woman was strong. She had been suppressing it pretty well, but I could feel her underlying power” Starrk explained. “I could see it in her eyes… Complete apathy. She would have killed us if he hadn’t agreed with her” Starrk added.
Lilynette opened her mouth to say something in protest, but she had nothing to say except for one thing. “But what if Aizen-sama is not dead?” Lilynette asked and to be honest, Starrk had no answer for this. He might have told the woman that he believed her, but the truth was that he did not believe her… At least, not completely. Yes, Aizen could be dead or he could still be alive. Only time will tell.
Right now, he could only make the best of the situation for himself and Lilynette… He just hoped that his fellow Arrancars were smart enough to know which way the wind was blowing…
~~4th Clone~~
Aaroniero Arruruerie was walking down a hall when he felt a huge amount of Reiatsu spike. He stopped for a moment before making a clicking noise… The Reiastu felt familiar so he decided to drop the matter. As long as Yammy was bullying someone else and not him, he was completely fine with it and decided to disregard the whole matter.
In fact, he was glad that Yammy finally snapped… Maybe, he was going to be punished by Ulquiorra and Aaroniero was going to love that since the man kept bullying him from time to time…
Then all of a sudden a portal opened right in front of him and a metal rod pierced his chest before he act. Aaroniero gasped in pain as he felt himself growing weak. Not only that, he couldn’t even access his Reiatsu. Then a weird-looking woman with three eyes and black markings over her face peeked out of the portal and looked at him in complete disdain. He noticed the woman was holding the rod in one of her hands.
“You are not needed anymore” The woman said and raised her other palm toward him. “All-Killing Ash Bone” The woman muttered and a white bone shot out of her hand and stabbed him in the chest. He screamed in pain as his body slowly turned into ash… The woman didn’t even wait for him to die completely. As soon as he was stabbed, she simply disappeared into the portal before the portal disappeared too…
~~5th Clone~~
Zommari Rureaux was sitting on a white pillar in the lotus position with his eyes closed. Just like the other Arrancars, Zommari also possessed a hobby and his hobby was to meditate. That was exactly what he was doing right now, but it was hard to meditate when Yammy was fighting someone in full throttle. Zommari did not hate or dislike any of his comrades, but he did not like Yammy.
The man was not only arrogant, he was a brute who would bully anyone weaker than him... He was the strongest Espada in his release, but Yammy would still avoid going after the top 6 and Zommari hated him for that. Yammy was someone who would happily bully the weak just for the sake of his entertainment, but he would balk in front of a stronger opponent.
Then all of a sudden his eyes snapped open when pain lanced through his chest… He immediately noticed a weird-looking with three eyes standing in front of him. However, he also noticed the black metallic rod poking out of his chest. Who the hell was this woman? How did she get here? Zommari also realized that he could no longer feel his Reiatsu.
‘Am I going to die like this?’ Zommari asked himself but the woman simply pulled ot another metallic rod from nowhere and then brought down the rod towards his head. That was the last thing he saw before his world went completely blank…
~~6th Clone~~
“What the hell is happening, eh?” Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez asked as the Las Noches shook. Yammy was fighting someone and he was not holding back. Wasn’t he forbidden from releasing his Zanpaktou inside the Las Noches? However, who was he even fighting? He didn’t know anyone aside from the top 4 Espada who could force him to release his Zanpaktou.
However, he couldn’t feel the Reiatsu of the person Yammy was fighting…
“Would you like me to take a look, Grimmjow-sama?” Shawlong Koufang asked respectfully, but Grimmjow simply waved his hand in denial.
“Don’t worry. We will know eventually” Grimmjow pointed out. He was starting to feel very bored, and now Yammy was getting to fight someone. He was jealous, but there was nothing he could do. He wanted to fight someone too, to get rid of his boredom, but unfortunately for him, he had no intentions of bullying the weak and he had no idea where Nnoitra was.
He guessed that the man was loitering someone in the desert and while he knew where Ulquiorra was, he wasn’t stupid enough to pick a fight with the Cuatro Espada… He did have something in his sleeves to use against any higher-ranked Espada, but that was not a permanent solution. He could only use the Caja Negacion to buy some time and nothing else.
“Uh… What is that?” Yylfordt Granz asked pointing at the black portal forming in the middle of the room. Moments later, a weird-looking woman with three eyes flew out of the portal, making everyone present inside the room raise their guard…