ICE HEART
vii. the
❝GOODBYE, UNNAMED ARRANCAR.❞

Click. Click. Click.

That was all that could be heard as Ayame's shoes tapped against the concrete floor continuously while she walked towards her temporary apartment. The wind howled at the blonde-haired female as she gazed into the gorgeous night sky, admiring the beautiful, bright stars like they were the most important things in the world. During missions, Ayame usually rented an apartment so that she didn't have to rely on others unless it was an emergency or an extremely short trip.

Just as the female was about to turn a corner, multiple spiritual pressures appeared and forced Ayame to come to a halt, her eyes narrowing with suspicion. A few seconds later, her soul pager began to beep furiously. Hastily, she whipped it out of her pocket and gazed at the different locations where the spiritual pressures were. Ayame's blue eyes widened when she saw how many there were and where they were heading. There were seven of them and they were heading for anybody with an ounce of spiritual pressure. Lucky enough for the blonde, her spiritual pressure was always suppressed to the point where nobody can even feel it unless she's in the Soul Society, and even when she was in the Soul Society, it was only a small pulse that could be felt.

The blonde felt two spiritual pressures above her and resisted the urge to gaze above her and glare at the hollows. Ayame pretended like she was continuing with her average day and she couldn't see the monsters that were going to exterminate any being with a single drop of spiritual pressure, as she wanted to catch them both by surprise. Once the female felt that they had disappeared, she quickly grabbed a soul candy and swallowed it.

"Get to safety." Ayame ordered her mod soul, Lilia.

"Yes, Ma'am." She responded politely as she ran towards Ayame's apartment.

"They're still nearby, my Queen." Kōri No Joō informed the blonde.

"It's time to get to work then." Ayame muttered in her thoughts, a small smirk forming on her lips.

Ayame felt for the new spiritual pressures and she could feel the two that were above her a few seconds ago and noticed that they were still close by, but they weren't directly above her like before. As the blonde-haired female was about to flash step towards them, she felt another spiritual pressure approaching her and snapped her head back, stopping an oncoming blade with her bare hand.

"Hmm, you seem quite strong for a Shinigami. Who may you be?" The Arrancar commented smugly, while Ayame sent it a dark glare.

"I am the Captain of Squad Five, Ayame Kireina." She responded, pushing the blade back and placing her hand on her hip, though she was still on guard.

"A Captain? I sure got lucky!" The unnamed Arrancar exclaimed, a glint of happiness appearing in his eyes.

The blonde female chuckled lightly, amused at how stupid the Arrancar in front of her was, "Underestimating me will lead to your demise, my unfortunate friend."

"I could say the same for you too, Captain." The Arrancar retorted mockingly as a devious smile wormed onto his lips.

"Y'know, I would've thought that your precious 'Lord' would've told you the members of the Royal Guard Squad. Apparently, I was wrong. Oh well, you won't remember who your Lord is when your sliced into pieces!" Ayame yelled as a turquoise aura began to surround her while she raised her spiritual pressure slightly.

The Arrancar's eyes widened as he hunched forward, the effects of the blonde's large spiritual pressure already harming him. It felt like it was choking him - suffocating him until he died. It was so overpowering, yet she hadn't even used half of it.

"Already? I don't even think that you'll have to use me that much for this battle, my Queen." Kōri no Joō spoke up, her voice laced with amusement at the weak Arrancar.

The Arrancar's grip on his zanpakutō grew stronger as fury overpowered him and he began to scream, "W-What is this s-spiritual pressure? A pun-puny Shinigami cannot be s-stronger than m-me! It's imp-possible!"

"Don't worry, I'll be nice to you." Ayame smirked lightly as she flash stepped behind the Arrancar and swung her leg towards him, deciding not to use her zanpakutō when she could easily defeat the Arrancar using simple hand-to-hand combat.

The Arrancar snapped his head around and hurriedly blocked the blonde's kick with his own hands while sweat dribbled down his forehead. She let out a small chuckle, pulling her leg back and punching the Arrancar harshly in the face, sending the male flying backwards. Ayame's eyes narrowed slightly as she flipped backwards and unsheathed her zanpakutō, deciding to end the fight quickly so that she could help the others. The female charged towards the Arrancar and clashed swords with him, and then she put more power into her zanpakutō, forcing the Arrancar to flash step away before he was overpowered. Rolling her eyes at his pathetic attempts to get away, Ayame flash stepped behind the weak Arrancar and slashed his back twice, forcing him to cry out in agonising pain.

"I see. It is quite pathetic of me to have to release this at this time in the fight, but it's obvious to me that if I don't then I could very well die." He spoke as a whirl of spiritual pressure surrounded him, "Inject, Kurushimi Itami!"

The Arrancar changed into a larger and bulkier form of himself, and his injuries had disappeared. His spiritual pressure had grown slightly, but it was nothing overpowering. His red hair still flew behind him while his green, devious eyes sparkled in the dark. The Arrancar gripped tighter onto his zanpakutō as he charged towards Ayame. Hastily, she moved to the left, although his blade still managed to leave a small scratch on the blonde's left shoulder. She glanced over at the small scratch on her arm, dismissing it and gazing back over at the Arrancar, who was smirking triumphantly.

The blonde tilted her head curiously, wondering why he felt so proud after creating a single scratch on her body, "What's with the sudden smirk?"

"It seems that you have underestimated me, Shinigami. My zanpakutō had poison coated over it once I had released my resurrection - a poison which paralyses whatever it touches!" He exclaimed proudly, an evil laugh following after his explanation as Ayame's eyes widened and she attempted to move her shoulder - it wouldn't move a single inch.

"That's a clever trick you have there. If any part of the body comes into contact with your zanpakutō, then that part of the body is unable to move until the poison wears out, therefore putting them at a disadvantage for the rest of the fight." Ayame praised the Arrancar; a small smile on her face. "You're quite smart, for an Arrancar."

"You're quite strong, for a Shinigami, however the result will end up the same!" The unnamed Arrancar roared, gripping tighter onto his zanpakutō.

Attempting to act innocent and naïve, Ayame tilted her head to the side, "What result would that be?"

"Your lifeless body smothered in your own blood!" He shrieked as he charged towards the blonde once again, ready to kill.

"I can't simply just grab his zanpakutō with my hand like I would usually do to stop an oncoming blade. I can't even let my body come into the slightest bit of contact with his zanpakutō, and possibly his body as well seeing as I don't know the extent of his powers. Hand to hand combat won't work in this fight. This is going to be more trouble than it's worth." Ayame thought to herself, releasing a large sigh in the process.

"Be careful, My Queen. There is something strange about this poison, but I can't figure out exactly what, however I know that stopping your movements isn't the only thing it does." She warned the female, causing Ayame's eyes to narrow in suspicion.

"I see." She replied, a small hint of hesitance in her voice.

His zanpakutō flew towards Ayame as sje flipped to the side, narrowly dodging his probably fatal blow. Once again, the blonde tried to move her left shoulder but as expected - it didn't work. Ayame held her zanpakutō out in front of her with her right hand and pointed it at the Arrancar.

"Tell me, why do you not release your zanpakutō?" The Arrancar asked, growing irritated with the lack of effort that she was putting into the fight.

Ayame let out a small chuckle, before she decided to explain why to him, "Simply because there is no need. If your zanpakutō did not have the ability to poison others, I would just be using hand to hand combat or Shunko to kill you. However, that isn't the case."

"UNDERESTIMATING ME WILL LEAD TO YOUR DOWNFALL, SHINIGAMI!" The Arrancar shrieked as he flash stepped behind the female, his zanpakutō drawn and ready to strike, although the blonde could see every single move that he made.

"Too slow." Ayame muttered under her breath before slashing the Arrancar's shoulder and flash stepping away quickly as the Arrancar held it's bloodied arm.

The small Captain took the Arrancar's state of shock to her advantage and flash stepped behind him and harshly kicked him into a building, some of the bricks falling onto his body as the building began to fall down. When the dust cleared, the Arrancar was knelt down on the ground coughing up blood.

"My foot isn't paralyzed, meaning that as long as my body doesn't come in contact with his zanpakutō, then I should be fine." Ayame thought to myself, a smile growing on her face.

With that new information, Ayame decided that she could finish the fight using hand-tohand combat, especially since he was on the ground and barely moving, as though he had already accepted his inevitable demise. Ayame flash stepped in front of the Arrancar with great speed and punched him with full force, causing his skull and his mask to crack before he began to fade away. In a last minute attempt to kill the Shingami, the Arrancar managed to slice Ayame's right leg, immobilising it, before he completely vanished. The only signs that something had happened at the location were the damaged buildings and trails of blood that surrounded the area. Ayame's blue eyes widened as she gazed down at my now bloodied and temporarily paralysed leg, releasing a small sigh as she did so.

"Damn it. I let my guard down." The female thought to herself, gazing at where the Arrancar used to lay  and sheathing her sword as she turned away from the sight, "Goodbye, unnamed Arrancar."

"My Queen, please don't push yourself. That poison the Arrancar used stops your movements and will slowly spread throughout your body until you can't move at all, and it could lead to your death." Kōri no Joō informed the blonde-haired female with concern laced within the zanpakutō's voice.

"I understand. Thank you, Kōri no Joō." The blonde smiled at the zanpakutō's concern.

When a pulse of spiritual pressure flickered at the female, she immediately remembered that there were more Arrancar and sensed for everybody's spiritual pressure, and she could feel Toshiro and Ramgiku struggling so she decided to flash step towards them. Although, when she arrived at the destination, she saw blood streaming out of Toshiro's wounds and him falling to the ground.