"Katherine! How dare you come between me and him?" Graven shot at the Queen of Hearts, who smiled in response. Her smile was akin to that of a grandmother, who smiles on the silliness of a toddler. Angered, the Primera declared with a voice, that thundered all over the destroyed halls of Karasu's castle; "I will never back down, and neither will my army, not until there is no man of mine left standing! I will take you down, if I have to, but I will end Dante today!" Then, the queen's smile was gone. She had expected him to be smarter than that.

"As you wish." She spoke coldly, and gestured to the five of the Roses behind her. On that instant, the five would appear all around Graven, only to keep him in place for a moment and block his escape. A black, ancient-looking knife had slipped into Katherine's hand. Graven recognized the dark weapon as one of the cursed artifacts of the kings. Before he could speak a word or push the Roses aside, the blade had pierced his hierro-infused skin and sunk into his flesh. "What have you done?" He would ask in disbelief, as the Queen of Hearts withdrew the blade, and her Roses let go of him. Graven fell to his knees, and then to the ground, as the poison of the blade spread through his entire body.

The shinigami, who had been forced out of his Bankai, let out a plea for Katherine. She glanced at him, like she was looking at the most disgusting entity in the world, and replied to his pleas. "And you? How many have you killed, shinigami? If I were you, I would leave and never set foot on these sands again, for my mercy does not extend to the hypocrites. Take on my advice."

Looking at her Roses again, she told them; "Emilía and Amara, seize Alyss and Annora. They are coming with us to the East. Cassandra, Dorothea and Adelita will swipe away the remnants of these pathetic militias." As all of the five disappeared from sight, Dante groaned in his pains and Graven lied in the ground, struggling to keep himself conscious. "Now, what do I do with you, Dante? Would you prefer torture, before I get what I want and kill you, or not? Your choice." She looked at the defeated Blood Wraith, who spitted on the ground upon her words.

"Torture it is, then."


"I believe this battle is over, Lambda Àrbitro, perhaps we should cease this petty fight and focus our efforts on other things aside from this." Kuroi spoke, after evading her attack effortlessly. She agreed, but she couldn't admit it around. "What makes you think I would just let you-" Go, she was going to say. An almost unnoticeable flare of reiatsu, and the total disappearance of it had caught her attention. The fury leader knew what the phenomena would mean, and to whom that reiatsu belonged to.

"Iota!!!" Lambda screamed from the top of her lungs. Kuroi was heading towards the citadel, but she couldn't care less - someone had killed Iota and that someone needed to get their intestines fed to themselves. She was full of bloodlust and rage, as she dashed towards the citadel as well, trying to pinpoint the location she had felt the reiatsu in. It was gone, no trace of it left in this world. All she knew was the direction.

When Lambda's eyes were set on a man, whose surrounding was veiled in ice and frost, she would stop. Espada or not, he was not among the Army of Blood - an enemy, in other words, and given her enraged state of mind, her next action was not well-thought. Recklessly, she screamed at him; "Die you worm!" And with that, her hand with a sword was raised, in order to open the earth and feed the arrancar to it's hungry teeth, but when she moved it down, it was no longer there. Her hand was a short distance away, liberated and bleeding. Her zanpakuto was lying on the ground.

"Figured you don't need it." A voice behind her spoke. Before Lambda could turn around, a sword had pierced her throat, and cut open her arteries and vocal chords. Her body fell to the ground, as Cassandra appeared from the behind, stripping herself of a cover of invisibility, looking amused at the easy victory.

"Long time no see, Saelien," she smirked and hissed.


"Yes, Vice-Captain Kimura," Yumiko replied sheepishly, and the chains around the three arrancar began to wither away, as she began to encrypt her own spell. Eliyah looked furiously disappointed at both females, his blade still greedy for hollow blood - in the end, he would seal his shikai, sheathe his zanpakuto and sigh in a martyring manner. Mú rose up immediately and crushed the weakened chains around her, while Tau remained on the ground and stared into nothingness. For a moment, the red-haired arrancar pondered their odds of survival, if she took off before they knocked her unconscious, but came to the conclusion, that even if she could take on the little girl, the two others were out of her league. As Eliyah raised his hand to perform Hakufuku, a spell to force the two unconscious, they were interrupted by an unexpected arrival.

The black clouds on the sky would rain with purple light, and rods of thunder struct the area around them, both as a warning and a flaunting demonstration of power. The ground would shake uncontrollably, as if an earthquake had hit the castle, and the sands below their feet would turn into solid stone, before cracking and opening as if to devour the shinigami and the arrancars. Yumiko was caught off guard and looked to the two senior officers for orders, rather than thinking by herself, whilst Eliyah cursed aloud. Mú saw her moment, and tried to awaken Tau from her trance without success - she couldn't leave her behind, so running was not an option. Mú raised her up by placing Tau's hand on her own shoulder, and lifting her from her hips.

"Thinking of running away, eh?" A cheerful and childish voice shouted from afar. An arrancar wearing a knight's armor and a yellow-colored hair had appeared on the battlefield, and was standing on a pillar of stone, that seemed to have appeared out of nothing. "Not good, not at all. No one runs from Katherine and her Roses, didn't you know that?" She mocked them in a mischievous tone. Another arrancar appeared after her - this one had purple-colored hair and rather revealing clothing. "Couldn't wait to jump into that ugly Resurreccion of yours, 'Lita?" She told the yellow-haired arrancar in a patronizing manner, while earning an angry look from her ally. "We should get rid of these ants soon, so we can catch up to that Segunda." She said, but had to continue because of the questioning and clueless look on her friend's face. "Cut off the head of the Espada, dumbass. With Graven gone, the Segunda remains as the remaining superpower of their petty militia." Looking as if she hadn't heard what her friend said, the yellow-haired arrancar turned back to the enemy.

"I will now cut you six to pieces, in the name of Queen Katherine! Understood?" She yelled from afar, earning her a laughing fit from her ally. "What?!" She screamed at her. "Understood? Could you be any more pathetic?" The two arrancars, with Tau out of her trance and barely conscious, looked at the bickering in disbelief. Then, without a warning, both of the unknown arrancars turned their head to the group of six. The yellow-haired struct her longsword into the ground, and the purple-haired drew out a spear of lightning out of the thin air. The earthquake started again, and this time the ground was opening all around them, whilst thunder rained over them, hitting each, should they not move out of it's way.

606#words


#tier2-1
#Luke


©2013 caliburn

Luke scowled as Katherine stabbed Graven, causing the prima espada to look in shock before collapsing to the ground, appearing dead. Even though Luke didn't like this, he knew that Graven wouldn't have backed down till Dante was dead. The woman then turned to him with disgust, saying that he had killed many hollows, at least, that what he presumed she meant by her words and that he should never return to the sands of hueco mundo again.

"I've never killed hollows in hatred, for me, when you really think about it; hollows were once people too, loosing their heart to the darkness that consumes them, so for me, I'm being merciful and setting their souls to be free from their pain, but I take no joy or pleasure from such deeds if that's what you are implying. I warn you, Dante cannot be trusted while he still lives and forcing us to remain out of hueco mundo is a unwise decision, so I cannot promise that I can stay away forever, but until we meet again, goodbye, Queen of the east," Luke told her coldly; he was exhausted and in his current condition, he wouldn't be able to fight her to his fullest, which he could do if he was at full strength, but it was unwise to try to argue against someone with the upper hand, so he turned and reluctantly left, walking over the ruins of the beaten and battered rubble that once was a castle and the mountains of the southern kingdom before disappearing using his flash step, appearing at the bottom of the mountain range when he got a call on his soul pager and answered it to hear Meiyo's voice on it.

"Captain Yasenha, full retreat is in effect, disengage and pull your men out by the order of the head captain, you've lost too many of your squad members to continue, there is a senkaimon near your lieutenant's position, take it and leave, over and out," Meiyo informed Luke before cutting the call. Luke scowled, this was far from over and he felt something he hadn't felt in a while; his right hand started to hurt and Luke looked to see that his hand had changed back to its infected state with black scales forming over his hand, his fingernails in a claw shape. Luke grunted and found the body of one of his squad members. Luke felt sick, but he knew that he couldn't have the others seeing this, so he torn the uniform and wrapped his hand up in it before making his way to the senkaimon, just after Izuna had passed through it and reemerged in the seireitei. Luke saw a squad four member come over to see if he was in need of medical attention, but he shook his head, despite the boy pointing to his wrapped up hand. Luke told him to leave him be and tend to the wounded before heading to his barracks, taking off the makeshift bandage and put on his black horse ridding gloves to once again cover the infection.

"Damn it, its back and worse then ever, what happened to me out there? I shouldn't have lost control like this, if this keeps up, I'm not sure what will happen, but it won't be good, but I'm so tired, I feel like I could just fall..." Luke said, his words starting to slow before he eventually fell asleep in his captain's chair, the battle and the war that had passed had taken its toll on him and he was thankful for the darkness of slumber's cold embrace take him...

((Exit thread))

Cassandra, the most venomous of the Roses, looked at Saelien, somewhat amused at his question. Was she here to fight him? If so, why had she cut down the fierce assailant for the old friend? Her hair floated in the windless desert, as if like sentient snakes, and a reply came to her lips quickly. "You're not on the shape you used to be, Saelien. I am afraid a battle between use would be terribly dull." She said, a questioning tone hidden beneath the direct statement. Where had he been for the past years? What had happened to his powers? Cassandra was intrigued by how he would respond and how he could be still alive.

A smirk appeared on her face and a dangerous look crept into her eyes, as she continued. "I have orders to kill anyone left alive. But you... The Cold Lord is certainly not an anyone." The compliment was seductive, in the same manner, that a devil would attempt to tempt an angel. He was well-aware, that Cassandra was not the one to follow orders, that didn't contribute to her personal interests - and right now, one of her interests was Saelien. Killing him would have been a buzzkill. But to see what he made of himself again sounded thrilling.

The arrancar would point out her desire to return to the Queen of Hearts, pointing at the throne room at afar. When the shadows descended to the citadel, Cassandra was surprised, but wouldn't show it to Saelien. Her expression turned from a mischievous smirk to feigned curiosity, as if she didn't already know what it meant. None of the Roses, aside from her, would recognize the name of Seach Taraign. The Shadow That Is. But Cassandra was more studious, and far more intelligent than any of them. Judging from Saelien's face, he too, understood what the shadow meant. "I am wiser than to face the shadow by myself," She said.

"I hope you've arrived to the same conclusion. I will look forward to encountering you again, Saelien." And with that, the green-haired arrancar was gone, disappearing into the thin veil of air, from where she had first appeared.


Both of the Roses looked at Kuroi, dumbfounded. They looked at each other, and their lips curved into a crazed smile, as if he had just challenged them to a fight, instead of offering them a peaceful option of leaving. The Segunda was just whom they were looking for. Both of them were pretty sure, that Katherine would be pleased to see the right hand man of Graven with his head cut off, and when she was pleased, she would lavish them with her attention and praise. Adelita was getting pumped up by the thought of getting to fight this guy, who had covered himself in shadows and protected his allies from Dora's attack. "Ooh, just whom we were looking to run into! The queen has put a bounty on your head and I am here to collect it!" She would say, in a childishly cheerful tone, one that didn't quite fit with the murderous content of her speech.

Adelita would twist her longsword, causing two large spikes of bedrock to emerge from the ground in an instant, one from behind Kuroi and one from the front. While her powers were similar to those of Lambda, whom Kuroi had fought earlier, they were much more developed and destructive, when compared to the youthful and defensive abilities of the fury commander. If successful, the force of the two spikes would be enough to cut the Segunda in two, as both of them were aimed at his guts. Adelita wasn't stupid, and knew he could probably dodge - her strategy was to force him to move and outmaneuver him, since he was still above their level of power.

Meanwhile, the shinigami took on the opportunity and began their retreat, that was ordered by the captain commander. Eliyah barely looked back, and as soon as Kuroi shouted at them to leave the fight to him, he ran after Izuna. He was glad to take off from a place like Hueco Mundo, the barren motherland of the hollow species. Yumiko, in the other hand, had some trouble keeping up with the two higher-ranked officers. Without any warning, a painful, crackling sound appeared out of nowhere, and a surge of purple electricity devoured the younger girl. From afar, she saw her captain enter the scene and pass through the Senkaimon gate - she could have sworn there was a 'no' escaping Izuna's lips, but in that moment, nothing seemed real. The force of the purple-tinted blast of energy threw her like she was made out of air, and Yumiko could feel tears falling down her burnt skin. Eliyah showed no sympathy or pity for her agonizing death.

Instead, the third seat pushed the vice captain, who'd attempt to get back to retrieve her, through the Senkaimon. "Let her go," He said in a cruel, cold voice, that would feed on the guilt of the female. "She's already dead." And by the time, that he had said it, it was already too late for Izuna to get back there. Dora, the originator of the purple lightning, had appeared in front of the Senkaimon, with her spear pointing at the gate. A blast would emerge from it, but Eliyah's palm would force the rift in the space to close, and by the the time the lightning would have passed the gate, the Senkaimon was gone.


"Tau, I don't think I can carry you for much longer." Mú spoke carefully, after they had evaded their capture and acted on the opportunity of escaping from the grip of Espada. Tau could barely walk, so the redhead had to carry her, which was greatly tiring her out. But the weight of Lambda's and Iota's deaths on her shoulders was much heavier than the blue-haired girl. A strange concern for whenever D'gerik survived or not had been awakened in her heart too. The blue-haired arrancar nodded at her words, and let her grip on Mú's shoulder loosen, leading her gently falling to the wall behind them, before sliding to the ground. The redhead collapsed next to her, and for a moment, they were both silent. It was Tau, who leaned in to kiss Mú on her lips, to comfort her lover and to ease her own mind.

"Mú, I am, so so sorry." Tau whispered in her ear, in a desperate, cracking voice. "It's all my fault. They're all dead because of me." Even if her words did not make sense, Mú could understand what she meant. Tau hadn't caused their deaths, but she could neither have done something to prevent them from happening. Mú let the blue-haired girl suppress her cries into her shoulder, and after a while, she managed to sob a question; "What are we going to do now?" And the redhead couldn't answer her question. There was no liberation, no future, as Tau had previously said. No purpose. No existence. "We'll stay together. Espada, Dante or whoever we come to fight for, it doesn't really matter if we're together, does it?" Mú would finally say. "I guess it doesn't." Tau replied.


Katherine had listened to the priggish speech of the shinigami captain, each second of which had made her regret her decision to let him walk away - but removing his head from his shoulders, after having given him a chance to go, would have been too brutal and aggressive for her elegant reputation. She glanced at the dying Graven, who was no longer conscious, and thought how gracefully the dagger had slid in and out of his guts. Now, that had been elegant. The shinigami left, probably realizing every second he spoke reduced his odds of survival, and the Queen of Hearts was left along with the defeated Blood Wraith.

Just as she was about to do what she had promised, and torture the rapist king to death, Katherine felt a strange presence. The clouds, that looked like shadows, were whispering of the arrival of something concerning. Something ancient. Something malice. Then the shadows opened, revealing a greater darkness from within, and that something streamed down from the skies. It, the darkness, was not gaseous or liquid, for it had no form - it was made out of nothingness. It was not a shadow, because shadows were the absence of light, and this thing made the light itself escape the battlefield, screaming in horror.

Seach Taraign. Katherine's face was expressionless, desperate to show no surprise or fear in the face of his shadows, but she wanted to let her jaw drop. No one had seen him in what had surely been a thousand years, not since he had crawled under the barren sands of Imhuvlt. Dante, though she would not look at him, was paralyzed from fear at the appearance of this demon, but he had not lived the years Katherine had, and knew not of who this thing was. The queen's pupils dilated slightly, when a desiccated, dead face was revealed from the cover of deep darkness, and an even darker voice would address her. Kingless Queen, Katherine. The shadow's words made her feel pathetic and her light dimmed.

Carefully, she responded to Seach's question. "I think we both know the answer to that." Anger and adrenaline were overthrowing the feeling of weakness and insecurity, and the Queen of Hearts would begin to shine with intensity as great as she had, when she had arrived on the battlefield. "There's something in the possession of the Blood Wraith, that we both want, and which only one of us will be able to hold." And with her sentence, a race was given birth to. Katherine was ready to cast Seach's shadows away from her immediate proximity, but knew, that the Lord of Imhuvlt was here to search for the Heart and observe the fall of Espada and Army of the Blood, not to challenge her. "Now, I happen to know, that Dante here hid it somewhere safe, and that he's probably the only one with the knowledge of it's location." Katherine said, with her right eye securing Dante's motionlessness and left ready to react to the shadow.

Neither of them was going to find nothing from the castle, she had already deduced. The Blood Wraith had kept it hidden for many centuries now, probably with the use of other artifacts, that he had collected. His head, in the other hand, would hold the information, that they both needed and wanted. Killing him wasn't an option anymore, not if Seach would absorb his soul and link Dante into his reincarnation cycle - which would mean, that he'd have access to his memories. A plan started to work out in her mind. The Queen of Hearts bit her lip at the difficult choice she was about to make; Katherine could let Seach take him, but she couldn't let him have those pieces of information, even if it meant she couldn't have them either.  

"Incinerate him," Katherine whispered. Her most trusted servant, Emilía, who had retrieved Annora and Alyss, both now lying on the shoulders of Amara, would nod, even with walls between them. In an instant, Dante's brain would feel like it was being fried, and the Blood Wraith began to scream in agony. The psychic was burning away his memories, selecting those that could prove useful to Seach's search of the Heart, and leaving Dante's soul and memories looking like a piece of paper, that a cigarette has burnt holes into. Katherine was regretting her choice already, knowing there was no way of retrieving those memories anymore and that Emilía couldn't read the memories she was burning away with her unseen flames. Eventually, Dante was left lying on the ground, silent tears falling down his face, but no shrieks despite the hell he was still in. "You don't deserve death, Dante." Katherine said, spitting on his nearly unconscious body.

The Queen turned her head back to the Shadow.

The pain had long passed, but Dante still lied in the ground, motionless and soundless. There was no controlling flames, when used as means of destruction, and he was a testament of this fact. His memories and thoughts were scarred and fragmented, most of what was inside his head burnt into nothingness - his will to fight, the urge to slaughter and torture, the need to stand up to show he was not defeated, all gone. But this was no death.

This was rebirth, ascension and enlightenment.

Without rage to blur his sight, Dante understood the enigmatic words of the shadowy figure - he could grasp a distant memory of an old legend he had once heard, and link it together with the name of Seach. Katherine turned her head away, ignoring the possibility, that something was left of Dante. She was underestimating him, and strangely, it didn't arouse anger in him - it was an advantage. His void gaze was set on the shadows, that he was lying on. 'Stand now, or walk beside me forever,' Seach had offered. His hand crept to his chest, and not a single breath or sound was let out. Swiftly, his hand dived into his own flesh, a barely noticeable grunt left out. Oh, it hurt like hell, but Dante simply didn't care about pain. It was below him.

When Katherine reacted to it and turned her gaze back to him, Dante's fist had closed around his own heart. A violent pull was followed by an euphoric feeling of victory, instead of pain. The Queen couldn't do anything but watch, as the Blood Wraith tore out his own heart and raised it to the air. From the hole on his chest, blood flowed like a fountain. Soon, his raised hand fell down, and the heart rolled a few times, before stopping. Life had escaped Dante's body. But this was only a beginning for him.

In a desperate attempt to prevent the cruel king from achieving immortality, the Queen's light extended over him, chasing away the shadows, that had been below him. But Katherine already knew it was too late. Whoever died over the shadow, would be bound to it. Forever. She gritted her teeth in disappointment for her own slowness and stupidity, before her own light would devour her. A pillar of light rose through the skies, blinding the throne room for a moment. Smaller pillars appeared where Emilía and Amara were. Just like she had appeared, she was gone.


"Arrogant Bitch...You think you possess enough power to beat me?" Kuroi shouted at Adelita's remark. She giggled and nodded. To be honest, she wasn't worried about getting injured. However, when he dodged her attack and arose to the skies, she could barely follow his movements. Cero Oscuros was unleashed at Dora's direction, prompting Adelita to swing her sword at her direction, causing a mountain to rise from the ground to protect her. It would catch the attention of the vain Rose, and while it couldn't protect her, it slowed down the cero, which destroyed the rocky structure, allowing her to move out of the way of the harm.

Then, everything turned black. Adelita couldn't see Kuroi coming at her, until his dark blade hit her shoulder with full force. She was on the same level as he was, when it came to defense, and thus, all his blade did was leave a nasty looking cut in her heavy armoring. If it wasn't for her shielding Resurreccion form, her hand would have been cut off. Now, the Segunda had made a grave mistake, by letting her know of his exact location - even with the darkness, she wouldn't need her eyes to return his favor. In an instant, he would be devoured by a thick shell of stone, something he couldn't destroy with his mere strength, Adelita calculated. The shell broke down upon him, leaving crushing weight above him, which was supposed to hold him down.

Both of the Roses moved away from the Segunda's location, and his darkness dispersed. Katherine's light had pierced it. "Noooot yeeet!" Adelita protested, but the light already swirled around her. "Kuroi Shingetsu, do not forget me! I will come back to claim that head of yours." She would yell from the top of her lungs, before a pillar of light picked both her and Dora out of the battlefield. And with that they were gone.


Lambda's hands were bound around her throat, trying to keep the heavily bleeding wound from killing her. Her vocal chords were crushed, and all calls for help she tried to make sounded like primal grunts and gargling. She was drifting between two choices - one of death and one of survival, the latter of which seemed slim. Tears had washed away her Resurreccion, wen, Mú and D'gerik, the horseman of pestilence appeared. Tau followed them, carrying a shinigami on her shoulders. All of them looked worn out. Thinking she was hallucinating, the commander of Furies fell into blissful sleep, and her hands fell away from her throat. Mú would rush to help her. "Lambda, hold on, we can't let you die now, not yet." The redhead placed her own hands on the wound.

Tau would place the shinigami on the ground, but before she could get to help Lambda, the petite girl would open her eyes and grasp for air. Yumiko's eyes were fully hollowfied, and her injuries had began to heal, whilst Tau had carried her. She raised herself up in confusion, and looked around, not sure of what had happened. Her eyes set on Mú, who was trying to keep Lambda alive. Disoriented, she took a dizzy step forward, tearing away her obi and then rushing to Mú's side. "Here." She managed to say, unsure of what she was doing, helping the dying arrancar being the only thing on her mind. She would place the piece of cloth in a pressure bandage, that would do for now. Both of the arrancars stared her, doubtful of her intentions.