novelraw Chapter 403 Protecting
Chapter 403 Protecting
Hearing Hitsugaya's demands again, Izuru stopped and shook his head with a sigh, the movement heavy with an unspoken burden. He replied, "They just let me in a few moments before you both were allowed inside."
"Wait, what do you mean by letting us inside? Who is it? Who has this power?"
Hitsugaya was surprised and inquired solemnly, his voice tight with suppressed anger. The captain's mind could not compute the answer he was about to receive.
Izuru glanced at him and asserts calmly, "It's the Central 46," after looking at Hitsugaya confused expression, he added calmly, "or at least, the illusion of them that still gives orders."
"Also, Captain Hitsugaya, you should be protecting 5th Division Lieutenant Momo Hinamori rather than chasing me. She is in grave danger." The shift in topic was whiplash-inducing, yet Hitsugaya's spirit recoiled, a deep-seated fear suddenly overriding all logic.
Though an unnerved Hitsugaya is unsure of what he is talking about, his mind still reeling from the vision of the dead council and Kira's cryptic words, Izuru spoke again looking at him solemnly, his gaze intent.
"The Hinamori is no longer in the Tenth Division's barracks, although you used Kyomon to surround the room of Hinamori with a high-level barrier, which can deflect the attacks from outside, but are you sure it will keep her safe? Are you certain of the fidelity of your own Kidō?"
Amidst the startled expression of Hitsugaya, whose blood ran cold at the realization of his carelessness, Izuru further elaborated, a cruel, cold logic in his voice, "Kyomon is meant to keep people out rather than inside; also, let me remind you, Hinamori is a master of Kido; she can easily break that kind of barrier if she was determined enough; also, haven't you noticed till now she has been putting a barrier around herself and following you this whole time without letting you notice her reitsu? You were too distracted to notice the familiar scent."
Hitsugaya was stunned, his mind a whirlwind of self-recrimination and blinding fear for Hinamori. He hurriedly glanced at Rangiku and ordered her to deal with Izuru in his stead, his voice ragged with urgency, which she affirmed with a sharp nod, the gravity of the situation etched on her face, and leaped back toward the Central 46 Compound, her eyes narrowed with concern for her Captain.
Meanwhile, Rangiku remained alone, surprised, looking at Izuru, who stopped his retreating pose and glanced at her with a familiar, yet heartbreakingly cold smile. A cold wind blew between them, carrying the scent of dust and impending combat.
"You don't know what my Zanpakuto can do, do you? I believe you've always found me... uninteresting."
Izuru inquires, looking at her playfully, though the playfulness didn't reach his eyes, which held a deep, profound sadness.
"I don't know anything about your zanpakuto; you are not the type of person who will divulge such things, especially not to an old friend."
Rangiku replied calmly looking at him ready to attack him at any moment, the grip on her blade tightening, her mind struggling to reconcile this cold, lethal figure with the clumsy boy she knew.
Izuru glanced at her nodded and then said, "Hinamori and Renji know about my Zanpakuto, but I have decided to show you as well, as a parting gift."
After drawing his Reiatsu-emitting Zanpakuto, the blade shimmering faintly in the dim light, and releasing his Shikai, Wabisuke, which causes the blade to bend inward at two right angles to form a square hook, Izuru moves to Rangiku's side before slashing at her with lightning speed.
With Rangiku drawing her zanpakuto just in time to block, the shing of her blade meeting his a desperate cry in the air, and being forced back by the sheer, unexpected weight of their clash, Izuru praises her reactions, his voice a flat monotone of professional approval, though Rangiku demands he not talk down to her, her voice strained by the effort to hold her ground, and the two cross blades several more times as Rangiku attempts to reason with Izuru, each clang echoing the growing rift between them.
Suddenly, Izuru asks Rangiku how many times she blocked his sword, his voice laced with eerie anticipation, and as she expresses confusion, a sharp, disorienting pain shot up her arms, and Rangiku is pulled down by her zanpakuto, which shatters a roof tile beneath her feet. The added mass was immediate, suffocating, and terrifying.
Izuru reveals Wabisuke doubles the weight of whatever it strikes and continues doing so with each successive strike until the defender can bear the weight no more and grovels on the ground with their head bowed as if in penitence, a fate he now coldly inflicts upon his former friend.
As he observes Rangiku block seven of his blows with Wabisuke, the veins straining in her arms, her breath coming in ragged gasps, Izuru assumes an average sword weighs close to 2 lbs and concludes that, after being doubled seven times, Rangiku's Zanpakuto now weighs 225 lbs, a monstrous, paralyzing burden, which he does not think she can run with. Despite this, Rangiku merely asserts she will not carry her zanpakuto if she cannot run with it, the desperation fueling a grim resolve, and releases her Shikai, Haineko, turning the blade into a cloud of ash that shimmered like silver dust in the sun.
Wondering what 3rd Division Captain Gin Ichimaru has done to Izuru, what he wants with her, and where he intends to go, Rangiku recalls the sharp, piercing pain of Gin leaving her when they were children, the memory a fresh, cruel wound that mirrored the pain of betrayal she felt now.
…
Join my P@tre0n for advanced chapters of both seasons and new third season of DDSS.
Search Chaosgray in P@tre0n