Kill One First
Nnoitra Gilga vaulted from the ruins of the ground.
What had once been a noble mansion was now nothing but a crater, gouged open by his Cero. Walls, servants, guards—everything had been obliterated in the golden blast.
Landing on the crater's edge, the tall, thin Espada raised his one good eye toward the western rooftops.
There, under a gray sky, stood a petite woman. A sharp face framed by dark bangs, two long braids falling over her shoulders. She wore the black shihakushō of a Shinigami, with a sleeveless white haori fluttering around her frame.
A captain.
Nnoitra's grin split wide. "Oi, shorty. You the one who killed Tsunayashiro Takehiko?"
Suì-Fēng ignored him, her eyes scanning the area. Shiraishi's reiatsu was completely gone—as if it had never existed. If she wasn't vigilant, she could lose him entirely. Was he fleeing? Or biding his time?
Either way, that man's absence was a danger in itself.
"Hey, shorty!" Nnoitra barked again.
In the underground labs, he hadn't known what was happening above. All he knew was Takehiko's reiatsu had vanished, followed by an unfamiliar surge. Aizen had ordered him to wait for intruders, but Nnoitra never cared for orders. Instead, he'd blasted his way out, preferring to kill on his own terms.
"I've nothing to say to Hollows," Suì-Fēng said coolly. Her voice cut like ice. "Especially not a filthy, half-baked Arrancar. Your master's dead, so now you're just a stray dog barking in the ruins."
Nnoitra's eye twitched. He laughed, sharp and mocking, before his grin twisted into murderous rage. "You women… always makin' me want to break you!"
"Desle!" he barked.
A blond-haired Arrancar appeared at his side in a blur of sonido—faster than any ordinary Shunpo, though its sheer speed often made users overshoot. A hollow hole gaped through his right eye socket, his handsome features marred by it.
"Lord Nnoitra," Desle said, bowing low. "Your orders?"
Nnoitra cast his gaze outward. Even through kilometers of walls and streets, his oppressive spiritual pressure smothered the Tsunayashiro guards and Onmitsukidō operatives stationed in the distance.
"Wipe out the trash," he said, dismissive. Weaklings weren't worth his time.
Desle lowered his head. "Yes." In a swirl of air, he vanished.
"Be careful!" one of the guards shouted, too late.
BOOM.
Nnoitra lunged at Suì-Fēng, using her distraction as an opening.
Against an Espada, every breath counted. To divide your focus—even for an instant—was to die.
His massive crescent blade howled as it came down, aiming to cleave her body in half.
Suì-Fēng's instincts flared. Instead of retreating, she advanced, using her small frame to dart beneath him. Her Suzumebachi tapped against his ankle, a black butterfly pattern searing onto his skin. She twisted, trying for the second strike.
But Nnoitra's left leg lashed out, boot slamming toward her face.
She somersaulted clear, catching his neck with her legs in midair. Her body coiled, and her right hand jabbed the back of his skull, Suzumebachi's stinger flashing. Her left hand, wrapped in raw reiatsu, slammed into his temple.
One more strike—just two hits on the same spot—and Suzumebachi's Nigeki Kessatsu would end him.
THUD.
Pain shot up her arm. His hierro was like iron mountains; even her Hakuda reverberated against it.
Nnoitra roared, prying her legs apart with one arm before slamming her into the rooftop. Tiles exploded, dust rising in thick plumes.
"Gh—!" Suì-Fēng spat blood, but forced her body upward, slamming her fist against his chest. The blow barely rocked him.
Of all the Espada, Nnoitra's hierro was the toughest. Even ranked as the 5th, his skin alone outclassed the others.
"Hah! Hahahaha!" He flung her away like a rag doll.
Her body plowed through trees and houses, carving a trench through the earth. She dug her heels into the broken ground, barely steadying herself before Nnoitra's spiritual pressure surged again.
His tongue bled. Golden reiatsu condensed at its tip.
"Cero!"
The Espada's high-speed blast roared forth, golden lightning that tore the air apart.
Suì-Fēng planted her feet. There was no dodging it.
"Shunkō: Bone Strike!"
Channeling reiatsu across her fists, she unleashed Yamamoto's high-level Hakuda technique. Her punch collided with the Cero, detonating it in a blast that shredded her haori and sleeves.
The explosion leveled entire blocks, scattering rubble like rain. Blood sprayed from her knuckles, but she didn't falter.
Nnoitra emerged from the dust, scythe raised. His strike came faster than her body could recover.
Steel grazed her torso. Pain numbed her senses. Blood poured freely as she collapsed backward.
Her vision blurred. Sweat and blood mixed across her lashes. She thought of her Division, of Yoruichi-sama. Her master's name burned in her chest even as hope slipped away.
"Die!" Nnoitra raised his weapon for the final blow, laughter wild.
Suì-Fēng closed her eyes.
But the strike never came.
Nnoitra froze, his eye snapping toward the horizon. Desle's reiatsu—gone. Blood trails marked the ground where his subordinate should have stood.
"What the hell—?"
A shadow crouched beneath a nearby tree.
"You're lighter than you look," Shiraishi said, setting Suì-Fēng gently against the trunk. He smiled faintly. "I saved your life. Don't repay me with hate."
Suì-Fēng's voice trembled, her body battered. "…Tch. Don't… flatter yourself."
Her body was weak, but her tongue sharp as ever.
Shiraishi only chuckled, letting his reiatsu flare openly before stepping into the night.
Desle was already gone. Only Nnoitra remained.