In her place stood a towering insectoid creature. Her torso still held human structure, eerily feminine and bare, but it jutted grotesquely from a segmented, mantis-like body. Long white arms, now clawed and jointed like blades, twitched at her sides. Her face, still partially masked, opened to reveal rows of serrated mandibles.
She let out a shriek that shook the nearby buildings. Minato's grip tightened around his hilt. No more feints. No more deception.
The real battle had just begun...
*
BOOM!
Minato blurred into vision once more, skidding backward as his foot dug trenches into the cracked earth. The impact kicked up dust and loose gravel, trailing behind him like smoke. A trickle of blood rolled down the corner of his lips. He spat to the side, exhaling a pained breath through clenched teeth.
His hand trembled, just barely, but enough to make the blade waver.
He grunted, grabbed his wrist with his free hand, and forced the shiver to still. 'She's in a different league… compared to the others I've fought.'
Before he could lift his gaze again, she was already on him.
BOOM!
The insectoid Hollow lunged, white limbs blurring like falling spears. One after the other, razor-sharp arms stabbed down with frightening precision. Minato vanished, blurring in the air above, just barely escaping.
Another strike.
He twisted mid-air, narrowly avoiding a scythe-like limb that tore through the space he had just occupied.
Another.
He dropped low into a crouch, sliding beneath a sweeping claw, its force flattening the trees behind him like grass before a storm.
She wasn't just fast, she was adapting. Every failed strike refined her next. Every dodge forced Minato closer to the edge.
"Tch… I can't get close."
Every time he closed the distance, another forest of limbs would sprout from her back, guarding her vitals. He had attempted a dozen approaches. Mid-air stabs. Feints. Clones. Shunshin coordinated slashes.
None had landed true.
His jacket was torn at the shoulder. There were cuts across his arms and thigh, small, shallow, but growing. His energy… was thinning.
Then,
A sound. A gasp. Minato's eyes widened. He turned...
"No."
The Hollow had moved again, only this time, she wasn't aiming at him. In her massive claw, suspended in the air like a ragdoll, was the old man, Fuji, who had been hiding behind a broken wall, watching in shock.
Her mandibles clacked together with a clicking chuckle. Her voice finally came, deep and feminine, guttural and coated in venom.
"Hahahahaha!" A laughter from Hell. She tossed the old man high into the air. Minato didn't think. Shunshin no Jutsu.
He was a yellow streak across the battlefield, every cell in his body screaming.
He caught the man just before he hit the ground, twisting in midair to absorb the impact..
And that's when her claw came.
SLASH!
A shriek tore through the sky as a jagged white limb raked across Minato's back, ripping through muscle and flesh.
Blood sprayed in a wide arc, staining the grass below.
Minato crashed into the dirt, rolling over and over until he came to a halt, groaning, face twisted in pain. The old man, though bruised, was safe, coughing but alive beside him.
His vision blurred at the edges, the world spinning slightly as he forced himself upright.
"Tch... I walked right into that…"
But even as blood poured from his shoulder, his mind was moving. Calculating. Watching her patterns. Her habits.
He'd seen it now, her blind spot, the moment just before she spawned new limbs. A half-second vulnerability in her spiritual signal. If he could time it right...
He tightened his grip on the hilt.
'One move... I'll end it in one move.'
He rose to his feet, wounded but resolute.
And then...
Minato gritted his teeth and prepared to charge.
His blade trembled slightly in his grasp, his injured back screaming in protest, but he forced the pain down. Every breath burned, but he had no choice. One move. Just one clean strike through her blind spot, and...
FWOOOSH!
A sudden gust of wind slammed across the battlefield like a tidal wave. The air shimmered, no, it rattled with spiritual pressure, and right in front of his eyes...
SHHHING—KRRSSHH!!
A storm of silver ash tore through the Hollow from behind. It howled in pain.
The Hollow's body lurched forward, its entire back erupting into deep gashes, limbs flying off as they were sliced from behind by thousands of razor-sharp flecks of ash.
Minato's eyes widened as a single, elegant figure emerged from the swirling dust.
Short orange hair, draped uniform hanging loosely off her shoulders, a pink scarf wrapped around her neck, one hand resting on her hip, the other outstretched. The silver ash that seemed docile in her control shimmered in the sunlight, an elegant cloud of glowing ash particles that returned to her side in waves. Rangiku Matsumoto. 1st Lieutenant of the 10th Division..
Her voice came smooth, sultry, yet laced with sharp intent.
"Honestly, you're ugly enough already. Turning into a bug? That's just tragic."
The Hollow shrieked in fury, pivoting with speed and rage, trying to reform its limbs..
But it never got the chance. Two more spiritual pressures dropped from the sky like meteorites.
The first landed in a blur, silent and precise. She was slim and small, dressed in a modified black Shinigami uniform without sleeves, the emblem of the Second Division on her back. Her bowl cut hair was dark and her eyes were icy sharp. Soi Fon. 1st Seat, 2nd Division..
She moved in complete silence. And beside her landed another, Loud. Wild. Hiyori Sarugaki. 1st Seat 12th Division..
A short girl in all black robes, whose katana was hefted onto her shoulder. Her face nudged into a small scowl.
She stomped the ground hard enough to crack it, scowling at the orange haired woman.
"Tch! You started without us again, huh, boobs-for-brains?"
The orange haired lady didn't even glance back. She smirked. "Had to soften her up for you two."
The bowl cut sleeveless Shinigami didn't waste a word.
The wakizashi she unsheathed twirled in her hand and then she uttered..
"Sting all enemies to death, Suzumebachi.."
Right then and there, it slowly transformed into a small, golden stinger blade that extended along her middle finger.
Her voice was cold and calm.
"I'll handle it."
In a flash, she vanished, so fast Minato had to praise inwardly.
The Hollow screamed and swung wildly, spawning more limbs, erupting with Reiatsu in a panicked frenzy..
But she had already struck.
"Nigeki Kessatsu."
Her blade sank into the Hollow's side, a glowing butterfly sigil blooming from the contact point.
Before the Hollow could even process the blow, she danced around its form, agile as a shadow, and struck again..
Stab. Second mark.
The second butterfly bloomed..
BOOM!
An explosion erupted from within the Hollow's core.
Its entire body jolted, spiritual energy imploding in on itself, twisted into collapse. The massive creature let out a final, garbled cry before disintegrating into ash and light.
Silence fell again.
She exhaled once, barely winded. She wiped the tip of her stinger-like Zanpakutō and glanced sideways.
The loud girl sniffed loudly. "Tch. Wasn't even fun."
Minato stood there, bloodied and panting. He couldn't even speak for a second. The pressure they all carried… it wasn't suffocating, but it held its own weight. They were indeed strong.
He looked towards the spot were the Hollow had vanished, heaving a sigh of relief. He would've had to sacrifice more than he could just to take down the Hollow..
But instantly his mind couldn't help but be cast to how the bowl cut girl had executed the Hollow. He saw it. The transformation. How her blade changed from a normal blade like his into that stinger..
'A technique? Perhaps. The orange haired woman used a similar transformation, except hers was with a different property and effect. An evolutionary increase in strength relative to the user perhaps?' Minato inferred. While their transformation seemed strong and equally on par Minato felt that the orange haired woman edged out in her Reiatsu and could probably take the bowl cut girl in combat..
A strength multiplier of some sort.' He focused for a moment on the bowl cut girl, seeing the intensity of her Reiatsu weaken after deactivating the technique.
'Was this what you were trying to tell me?' Minato turned to his own blade which thrummed slightly, as if responding to him and then he heaved a breath.
Rangiku's face turned into a frown for a moment there. "That scary amount of Reiatsu. I thought it belonged to the Hollow.. But.." She muttered to herself, as her brows knit together in shock. Her head snapped to the side and she spotted him. Two pairs of sapphire blue eyes locked in a stalemate for a split second. One cold and calculating, the other tense and hopeful..
Rangiku blinked, and there was nothing in her line of sight. Disappeared, like a ghost. No trace of his Reiatsu anywhere. "Where is he?!" She turned sharply, scanning around her surroundings, trying to sense his Reiatsu but she got nothing..
"Hey. Soi Fon, Hiyori..Is it just me or was there a blonde handsome young fellow with striking blue eyes like mine over there a moment ago?"
Their reactions were different. Soi Fon shook her head shyly, while Hiyori scowled, loud enough for everyone to hear. "You really do have breasts for brains, Matsumoto!"
"Owww!" However, her scowl only earned her a slap to the back of the head by the busty woman who laughed..
"Sigh. Welcome to the 50th District esteemed Shinigami. I am-.."
"Who are you baldy?!"
"Excuse me?" The old man rose from the rubble, walking to the women with flair until he was stopped dead in his tracks by Hiyori's blade which pointed towards his nose.
"Calm down Hiyori, he's our manufacturer. I came along to collect some tools from him on Lady Yoruichi's order." Soi Fon walked up to the old man and examined him for a moment there.
"Ah you must be Captain Yoruichi's vice. Pleased to meet you, I'm Fujitaro. Walk with me. Your package is right in my forgery.."
He bowed respectfully, and led her into his home, leaving behind Hiyori and Rangiku.
"I guess it's just us Matsumoto. Try not to scatter the evidence, that baldy Kisuke might not like it.."
Her nonchalant voice sounded out as Rangiku let out a breath and began her investigation...
A/N: 👋