It finally happened. They finally woke up in hell. Literally.
This morning did not start up like the other ones. No, it didn't. They had woken up to Hollow attacks before but they never panicked because a few guys were always on watch so they were never fully blindsided until, well, now.
Cero.
That was what they had woken up to. No warnings, no bad feelings, nothing. All the last watch group had seen flying their way was a volley of coloured Ceros and had hastily erected a Bakudō, that although ultimately saved them, did not save them enough to not send them flying away.
If that had been all they wouldn't have thought about it too much and would have dismissed the entire situation by the hour.
More Ceros came. From all four directions.
They were being pressed from all sides.
"Everyone snap out of it or we'll be sitting ducks!" Tōshirō's voice shouted over where had suddenly become a chaotic battlefield. "Momo!"
"Focus on keeping those ones off our backs, Shiro. Me and the other will take care of this wing." Momo shouted without looking back as she led a short group towards the Hollows gaining on them from the westside.
"Tch." Tōshirō frowned, said nothing, and simply faced the Hollows coming his way.
"We take care of them fast and bleed into the other groups to help them. Don't be reckless." A lot of shouts echoed behind him as he clashed against the first Hollow and pushed it back.
All hell had broken loose that a few of them couldn't help but silently think to themselves, 'Is this how I die?' 'I'm going to die, aren't I?'.
Those thoughts gripped their hearts with fear and then blew the lid off their bubbling frustration. They fell into the Hollows with the instincts and determination of a cornered animal.
That was almost the moment that a lot of them understood that being a Shinigami didn't necessarily put them at the top of the food chain.
"Sit upon the frozen heavens, Hyōrinmaru."
With the release of his Shikai, Tōshirō took on the persona of dreaded chill and wielded its blade with cold apathy.
"DIE!" The slash mark along the body of the Hollow instantly froze over, killing it in the process but Tōshirō didn't care as he was already impacting into the second Hollow.
Seeing Tōshirō's charge, the students behind him pushed into the edge of their abilities and wielded it in retaliatory anger.
"We're halfway there. Just one more push." Tōshirō shouted as one more Hollow fell. He was simply a killing machine, having the strongest Zanpakutō and higher skill than any other student on the field.
One on one, the Hollows weren't a problem for the white haired boy, but their numbers definitely were.
The last Hollow in their quadrant fell and without wasting a second, Tōshirō blasted off in Momo's direction, instantly recognizing that they were hardly stalemating the Hollows as it was, and sent out a slash of frosted chill.
This was not the time to be holding back and all of them saw it, so they didn't.
Kidō flew everywhere and collided with the Ceros flying anywhere.
"Shiro!"
"Gotcha!"
"Bakudō #9: Hōrin."
An orange tendril extended from Momo's hands and snaked their way towards two Hollows butting heads over two terrified students and wrapped them in a bind.
Tōshirō flew over Momo and started running atop Momo's Bakudō, dragging his sword along it as he ran. Ice crept through the tendrils and soon it froze all the way to the Hollows in its bind and encased them in a frozen cocoon, though not for long as Tōshirō was already upon them sliced both cocoons in half.
"Fall back."
"G-got i-it!"
"Y-yes sir!"
The two panic stricken students immediately bolted away from the eye of the battle. They weren't stupid. Having a near-death experience at the start of the day was already a bad omen.
Speaking of bad omen, the two shared a look and each gave a nod.
"W-we'll have words with that bastard once we get through this."
They almost died, and someone had to answer for that. And they knew just who to accost.
The moment Tōshirō and his party finished killing off all the Hollows in Momo's quadrant, the tension in the battlefield immediately disappeared.
"Flood these bastards!" No one knew who screamed it but that was what they all did. These damned creatures had to die! With their current morale, they would storm into Hueco Mundo if they had to just to make sure these things stayed dead.
The students fell on the Hollows like an unrelenting tidal wave, riding their grievances, fears and tears until they drowned the Hollows in everything they could. And still it wasn't enough.
"Where are rest of these fucks! That sure ain't the last of 'em. Chief Priest Kuko isn't satisfied." An emotionally pumped student roared at the top of his voice as he stood on the decaying body of the last Hollow he killed, the last Hollow that fell.
"Get the fuck down that high, Kuko." Someone snapped hysterically. "I almost died from the same smoke that got you high."
"Guys before all that, I think we're forgetting something, or someone, very important." Someone said, and the whole camp of battered students fell in thought, not one that lasted long since they all slowly faced one particular corner.
"It's not me, I swear! I didn't curse anyone." A wronged voice screamed. It sounded bitter and resentful. "I almost died too! Twice!"
"That's the bare minimum, you ominous fuck!" A girl shouted back, screaming out her lungs against her tired body.
"Yeah. That's the least you can do if we get to carry around your cursed ass every single day." Another retorted.
"I-it's not me, I swear. Believe it." The victim cried with bitterness and despair.
His comrades scoffed. Those crocodile tears failed to fool them. "Tell that to your conscience. Hmph, do you even have one?"
Unfortunately, no one listened even when the victim cried. They cried, wailed and wallowed in despair but no one heard him.
Chief Priest Kuko stepped forward after sliding his Zanpakutō into its sheath. "We need to keep moving. The morning's already told us how the rest of the day is gonna go."
They groaned, but no one complained.
"And another thing." This time it was Momo that came forward. "They came too close and even had time to surround us on all sides. We'll be setting up trigger alarms around anywhere we camp for now. It won't be a sure-fire method, but nonetheless it's a necessary caution."
Just like with the priest, nobody said anything against it. A way that might increase their survivability by a mere 10%? Hell to the yes.
"The rest of us will survey the area around us while the rest of you rest up for now. We'll be leaving in thirty."
Bodies crashed to the play as the main decisions were made. Even with the battle done, some still felt unsafe that they hugged their Zanpakutō as they sat looking around.
.
....
.
"Is that it?" Itachi asked Junpei who just came back from his morning walk.
Junpei snickered. "I'm not that incompetent, Mr. Itachi. What better way to break them than by breaking through every facet of their expectations?" He asked rhetorically.
"They'll expect an attack. They'll plan for it. They'll caution for it, prepare themselves for it. They'll ready themselves for it to come from every direction, but that's not what will happen."
The young Third Seat stopped tapping the hilt of his Zanpakutō and turned to face his Captain with a closed eye smile. One that was too pure, naïve, and innocent.
"They'll see it coming from the front, simple and direct, and they'll steel their resolve for it, banking on the confidence they've built up since their first day, only for it to break through everything they will come up with. It'll come running at them and then through them, and all they can do is watch and see as it happens."
Itachi remained silent for a while, still having those faraway entranced eyes from the previous night, before he answered.
"As long as none of them dies."
Junpei nodded seriously. He knew his Captain would never accept any explanations from him should any of the students be maimed, or worse, dead.
"Of course, Captain."
He fished out two fruits from his sleeves and threw one at Itachi, who caught it without looking, before bringing the other one to his lips and taking a satisfying bite. The juicy crunch brought a smile to his face.
"Looks like I have to go. They'll soon come across the second appetizer." He quickly ate the fruit and threw away the odd part as he dusted himself to leave.
"A report, sir. From the Kuchiki Compound."
Itachi slowly looked up at him with half of his fruit still in his hand. "Speak."
"The current Clan Head, Byakuya Kuchiki, is about to wed the lady he brought home with him from the Rukongai years ago, Lady Hisana, who also has fully recovered from her recent bout of illness. It's barely noticeable, but her illness seems to be getting worse with every relapse."
Itachi brought the fruit to his lips and took another soft bite, ruminating and sliding the latest report to a corner of his mind.
The wedding would be a private affair, one that involved only the main family, especially with the disapproval some might express with him marrying a lowly girl from the Rukongai.
As for illness, if it wasn't a deliberate thing then Lady Hisana's constitution was frail. It wasn't exactly something rare.
Itachi remembered the few times he'd met the woman and the fewer times he'd taken notice of her. The memories of her as recorded by his Sharingan came to his foremind with unprecedented clarity.
He noted it, and filed it to another corner of his mind. He finished his fruit and broke what remained of it to his feathery companion who quickly ate it up before they both returned to watching their students.
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