Dust swirled, smoke rose.
Ashes cloaked the field of vision.
Beneath the tattered white haori, Katori's delicate form was revealed. She tied the remnants of her robe around her waist, just below her full curves, exposing a slender midriff with sharply defined abs.
Her black Shinigami shihakushō, singed in the earlier explosion, was reduced from ankle-length to a short skirt above her knees.
Her once-neat braided pigtails fluttered loose in the fierce wind, half-draped over her shoulder.
The dark, scattered strands framed a face usually lit with a playful smile, now pale and drained of its usual vibrancy.
She discarded her corroded, wax-like glasses, tossing them aside.
Squinting through narrowed eyes, her gaze dripped with chilling malice, devoid of the teasing mirth she shared with Makoto.
"I'll handle this one."
"You alright?" She asked.
Clearly, Makoto's response was irrelevant at this point.
Still, if it was Katori… she'd probably be fine, right?
Makoto thought as much.
Boom!
In the instant his thoughts flickered, a figure shot forward from the opposite side of the smoke, piercing the dense dust like a bullet, carving a vacuum tunnel dozens of meters long. The naked eye could only catch a pale streak.
In that moment, Tier Harribel felt a primal surge of danger.
Before her mind could process, her body reacted, bending backward with a snap of strained sinew.
Swish!
The claw-like hand, its tips gleaming, was wrapped in a dense reiatsu forming a near-tangible membrane.
Harribel could faintly hear the sonic boom as the claw broke the sound barrier.
Her instinctive dodge spared her a fatal blow.
Before the man called "Ciel" could react, a blast of air erupted. Katori appeared at his side, her Asauchi drawn, its blade angled against Ciel's charge.
As they clashed, the blade met steel skin.
Clang!
Sensing the murderous intent, Ciel halted his claw's thrust mid-strike.
His beast-like, reverse-jointed toes dug into the ground, blasting a crater like a blooming flower.
Yet his form flipped gracefully in midair, landing silently.
Harribel stared at the monster, then at Katori beside her, a fleeting confusion in her jade-green eyes.
How… could it be so fast?
As a Vasto Lorde, she should stand at the pinnacle of Hueco Mundo's food chain.
The notion that anyone could so easily overpower her left her uneasy.
But she quickly regained her composure, rising from the ground, gripping her greatsword, and locking eyes with the creature.
She didn't notice the faint scratch on her bone mask.
Katori, glasses removed, squinted at the monster.
Emerging from the smoke was a humanoid figure, its body clad in pale steel skin, its head fully masked.
Its reiatsu surpassed even Harribel, a true Vasto Lorde.
"ARRRRRRGH!"
From beneath the pale mask, a frenzied bellow trembled with a low hum.
Clearly, this was the man called "Ciel."
"Cannibalism among their kind?"
"And it's lost its reason."
Makoto observed the creature, recalling Ciel's unhesitating stomp on Szayelaporro's head and his dazed reaction to the explosion, easily deducing this.
But the intent behind this act was the real question.
Why would Szayelaporro sacrifice what was likely a powerful Adjuchas, or even a Vasto Lorde, to confront their group of three?
Did he truly believe this creature posed a threat to them?
Makoto pondered, his gaze drifting to the dense great trees… and what lurked within.
As if sensing something, in that same instant, a high-speed burst of reiatsu exploded beneath Katori's feet.
In a storm of wind, her form accelerated from stillness to supersonic speed in an instant, her Asauchi tracing a circular arc through the air.
Clang!
The girl's plummeting momentum, fueled by her reiatsu, unleashed a colossal force in that short distance.
Ciel raised his bone-blade-wrapped arms in a cross to block.
The collision of bone and Asauchi erupted in a sharp, ear-piercing buzz, the sound of blades vibrating at extreme speed.
Recoil. Leverage.
Katori spun midair, her sandaled foot slicing through under her tattered black skirt. Her seemingly delicate leg, wrapped in ultra-dense reiatsu, carried the weight of a great axe.
Boom!
Ciel's tall frame slid sideways. His reverse-jointed toes, still planted in the sand, carved deep trenches under the immense force, kicking up clouds of dust.
Katori pressed her advantage, leaving no room for counterattack.
The moment she landed, she raised both palms toward Ciel's trajectory, shouting, "Hadō #88: Hiryū Gekizoku Shinten Raihō!"
The spiritual particles in the air seemed to freeze for a moment.
Then, a blinding azure radiance engulfed everyone's vision.
A soundless roar.
All present felt their hearts struck by a heavy blow.
The devastating light pierced the sky, carving a scorching line at the horizon, carrying destructive reiatsu far into the distance.
Two or three seconds later, the violent radiance finally subsided.
Everything in the path of that Hadō, sand, stones, lesser Hollows, and the massive trees stretching from underground to the surface, was obliterated.
One pale tree trunk bore a black cavern, like a mountain tunnel, its edges smooth, with faint crimson glimmers in the charred remains.
Harribel's eyes widened. Her masked face hid her expression, but her frozen stance spoke volumes.
If that full combo had hit me…
The mere thought made the newly evolved Vasto Lorde feel her heart clench.
She'd underestimated these Shinigami before.
But Katori stood firm, her guard unyielding, squinting into the charred pit's depths.
Crunch, crunch…
Heavy footsteps, crushing scorched bark, grew nearer.
"How…?"
Seeing Ciel's figure, Harribel let out a low gasp, her frozen pupils widening.
In her sight, Ciel, once humanoid like a typical Vasto Lorde, had lost half his upper body to that full-force Hadō. Only his legs, right arm, and part of his head remained.
His form staggered slowly from the cavern.
Normally, even a Hollow skilled in high-speed regeneration would lose combat ability after such damage, surviving alone would be remarkable.
As a Vasto Lorde, Harribel knew their limits better than anyone.
Yet, at the edge of the wound that pierced his entire left side, a gel-like pale substance flowed.
Splatter!
As if filled by some unique material, the gaping hole in his left side sealed shut, his body inflating and contracting like a balloon.
In that brief moment, his severed left arm and missing half were fully restored.
Corrosive, translucent mucus oozed relentlessly from the wound's seam.
Makoto eyed the mindless "Ciel." noting his steel skin and structure had grown noticeably tougher than before.
Conversely, the abundant spiritual particles saturating Hueco Mundo's air diminished slightly the moment he fully regenerated.
It was as if a void had opened in the atmosphere.
For warriors of their caliber, this was a glaring phenomenon.
If his suspicions were correct…
"Katori." Makoto said, his gaze growing grave. "This thing might not be the only one."
"If I'm not overthinking, Hueco Mundo is likely under attack in multiple places right now."
"We need to end this quickly and return to camp!"
"…"
Katori's sharp eyes softened slightly at his words, a faint sigh escaping her lips.
"Well, that's quite a hassle."
"Makoto-kun begging me so urgently? That's a first."
"I was hoping to let loose a bit."
"You'll have to keep up with me."
Makoto blinked, quickly retracting his words. "On second thought, never mind."
A creature of this level… he could handle it himself, after all.
But with Katori, who knew what chaos she might unleash?
Too late, her speed outpaced his.
"It's settled, then!"
Her left foot stepped forward, her curvaceous form shooting forth.
Her voice, warm as a spring breeze moments ago, turned frigid in an instant.
"For what cause do you swallow the sword? Stand firm in flame, forsake all evil."
"Kurikara!"
In that moment, her face seemed stripped of all emotion, cold and mechanical.
A terrifying flood of reiatsu surged outward, so heavy it pressed down the dust, stilling the wind. In the dark night sky of the Forest of Menos, speckled spiritual auroras shimmered, the ground trembling in sync.
An overwhelming presence.
Her long naginata, adorned with a tassel, pointed forward, its blade gleaming with snowy brilliance.
The yellow tassel swayed.
Sensing her fiery battle intent, "Ciel" Tilted his head toward Katori, his neck emitting a crack.
A provocation.
The sharp sound was like a starting gun.
Both charged simultaneously.
Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!
A heavy initial clash was followed by a rapid series of strikes, too swift to discern.
Tier Harribel, setting aside her Vasto Lorde pride, watched the blindingly fast duel with unblinking focus.
Katori's two-meter naginata, cumbersome in close quarters, was wielded with masterful precision. The pole spun like a windmill in her hands, its silver blade flashing, shifting seamlessly between long and short grips, holding its own against Ciel's speed-driven short blades.
Swish!
In an instant, the yellow tassel fluttered before Ciel, obscuring his view.
A momentary blind spot.
The foot-long blade gleamed, thrusting like a dragon from the tassel's wake.
"Kurikara: Wrath."
Her emotion-devouring Zanpakutō, fueled by cold indifference, unleashed a speed several times faster than before.
Faintly, a deep purple reiatsu coated the blade's edge.
But Makoto's brow furrowed.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
A shrill, grating friction echoed into the distance.
Katori's face remained expressionless.
Yet her usually stoic eyes flickered with a moment of shock, fixed on the monster.
Ciel, fully clad in bone-like steel skin, slowly raised his head, his crimson eyes brimming with ferocious killing intent.
Her naginata, blocked by his dual bone blades, slid past his left shoulder, sparking fiercely and embedding deep into his steel skin.
That strike had aimed for his heart.
How could this creature's strength…
As Katori pondered, her gaze dropped to Ciel's feet.
Around his pale, steel-clad ankles, a glowing band, identical to the earlier light tracks, encircled him like shackles.
Had it been glowing all along?
The thought flashed through her mind.
In the next moment, a heavy kick shot out, striking her slender abdomen.
Boom!
Her form hurtled backward.
---
Hi guys, Elenea here! I just want to announce that starting now I'll be trying to focus on my own original fanfic, which I've been thinking about for the past few days (lol I really mulled this over briefly for a few days and decided I'm going to make it a full novel).
[Worse Than the Devil (DxD)]
Synopsis:
Devil.
An evil and chaotic creature, born from hell, which are often a scapegoat for humans. Blamed for the atrocities they themselves commit.
"The devil made me do it."
A phrase always uttered by humans after committing crimes, casting blame and responsibility for their wrongdoings onto the devil.
But not all humans are like that, for there is one man who would gleefully commit atrocities that would be condemned by all of human history and accept the blame and responsibility for those wrongs with open arms.
His name is Michael, but in stark contrast to the meaning of his name 'Who is like God' he is not a devout man who draws near to God's embrace. Instead… he is the one who sends lost sheep to meet God's embrace much faster.
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Btw, a quick note before you decide to read, if you have a heart as pure as glass, I suggest you don't read this because it REALLY gets dark to early. The first chapter will give you a little idea of what I might explore later on in this fanservice harem-themed world like DxD.
Adios!