ICE HEART
xxv. crushed
❝WE SHALL SHOW THEM NO MERCY!❞

"Excellent." Head Captain Yamamoto spoke as a Garganta opened in front of the large group of Shinigami, "It seems we made it here in time."

"Made it in time?" Sosuke Aizen repeated as he stepped out of the Garganta, a smug look plastered on his face as he gazed at the group like they were just worthless ants, "Now, why would you think to say something like that? I'm well aware that what lies beneath you is not Karakura Town. This may come as a surprise, but that means nothing to me. If Karakura Town is now inside the Soul Society, we'll just kill you right here and create the Ouken within the Soul Society. It is that simple. Until then I shall leave Las Noches under your care, Ulquiorra."

Three other Gargantas opened revealing three Espada, and what Ayame presumed to be their subordinates.

In one Garganta there were several females, one of which had olive skin, aqua eyes, thick eyelashes and short, golden blonde hair; which was messy with three, braided locks. This one had spiritual pressure which didn't even come close to the others that she was surrounded by, so it was obvious that she was an Espada. Another female had black, jaw-length hair with one blue eye and the other eye was a nice shade of amber, with a red outline. Another female was a dark-skinned, green-eyed Arrancar with long, thick, wavy, brown hair. The last female behind the Espada was a slender Arrancar with long, flowing, olive-green hair, long eyelashes and lavender eyes which had three pink dots just below her right eye.

Another gargantua had an Espada with the appearance of an elderly man, with a white mustache and white hair. His face was lined by large scars on the left side of his chin and across his right eye. Despite his aged appearance, this Espada was quite stocky and muscular. Behind him was a very tall Aarrancar with light green eyes and dark brown hair. He had two green, triangle-like lines running through each of his cheeks which formed inner circles. There was also a large, bulky and muscular Arrancar whose dress style reminded me of a stereotypical drag queen. He had long, wavy, black hair along with large, glossy lips, icy blue eyes and curly, long eyelashes. Another Arrancar which was behind the Espada had long, black hair with dark gold eyes. He had several red tattoos across his body, and some scaled up to his face. Along with this, there was also a slim male Arrancar with long, flowing, blonde hair and leopard-like, light purple markings around his grey eyes. There was also another slim, male Arrancar with scruffy, black hair, a short, braided ponytail and golden eyes. The last Arrancar behind the Espada had wavy, short, blonde hair and four short, squiggly lines descending from each of his dark red eyes. He had a jagged, chipped tooth protruding from the lower left of his mouth.

The last Garganta revealed only two Arrancar - one of which was an Espada. The Espada had blue-grey eyes and wavy, dark brown hair, which ended at the base of his neck. His hair was parted down the middle and was quite unkept. The Arrancar next to him was a young-looking female with light green hair. Her right eye was light pink and her left eye was covered by her hollow mask.

Sosuke walked forward with an everlasting smirk on his face as he glared at the Shinigami with his piercing, brown eyes.

"His spiritual pressure is monstrous, just like I remember it." Marechiyo gasped, frightened for his life.

"If you're so scared then why don't you run away, coward." SoiFon growled at her pathetic excuse of a Lieutenant.

Ignoring the conversation between Squad Two's leaders, Tetsuzaemon turned to face his Captain, "So I assume our first priority is going after the leader."

"Not quite. Sosuke's powers are very special. If we have any chance of attacking him, we have to beat those around him first." Sajin instructed his Lieutenant, who nodded in response.

"Jushiro, Ayame, among those three Espadas, which one do you figure is the strongest?" Shunsui questioned as the blonde-haired female examined the three Espadas.

"Hard to say, Sosuke is the one who knows." Jushiro answered his best friend.

"I would assume that either the brown-haired male with the green-haired female is the strongest from examining his spiritual pressure, however the elderly male with six subordinates is a close match." Ayame informed the two males, taking note of the different strength of spiritual pressures that she felt.

"The problem is, while we're fighting the Espada, there's no guarantee that Sosuke and his men won't get in the way." Toshiro thought out loud.

"You're right." Rangiku agreed as the group attempted to come up with some sort of plan.

"Alright. You should stand back." Yamamoto suggested to everyone as his wooden cane transformed into his zanpakutō. Everybody's eyes widened as they saw the Head Captain taking action. "All things in the universe turn to ashes, Ryūjin Jakka!"

Flames erupted everywhere as the old man released his zanpakutō and raised it above his head.

"TAKE COVER JUSHIRO, AYAME!" Shunsui warned his two friends as the brown-haired male and the white-haired man crouched down to protect themselves from the Head Captain's fiery blaze.

"Quiet down." Ayame snapped at him, not bothering to move from where she stood.

Yamamoto's sword was covered in burning flames and the blonde could feel her zanpakutō vibrating at her side, hissing at the dreaded warmth near her. Ayame only presumed that Toshiro was feeling the same from his zanpakutō. The petite female could hear Marechiyo screaming in fright as Yamamoto trapped Aizen, Gin and Kaname in a dome of flames.

"Jōkaku Enjō." Yamamoto called out. "We are safe. This wall of flames is to keep Sosuke and his people at bay for quite some time. Now then, we shall show them no mercy. End them at once!"

"The Head Captain's rather drastic." Jushiro sighed.

"It just goes to show you how seriously Old Man Yama's treating this threat." Shunsui replied with a smirk.

"So, alright, what should we do here now?" The elderly Espada spoke. "Stuck with our enemies while our boss is in that mess."

"You should be more careful what you say about Lord Aizen." The female Espada warned him.

"And you should mind the word you speak to me as well, Harribel." The elderly Espada clicked his fingers and his subordinates opened a Garganta which allowed a throne made of bones to fly through. "Seeing as how the boss is caught up, I will be the one giving orders here, and no one will complain."

"Hold on..." A brown-haired Arrancar murmered.

"Mila Rose, be quiet." The woman - named as Harribel - ordered.

"You know I'm good with that." The Espada with one Arrancar commented before getting punched by his own subordinate. "WHAT WAS THAT FOR LILYNETTE?" He exclaimed before getting kicked once again. "STOP IT!"

"YOU'RE GOOD WITH THAT? WHAT ARE YOU KISSING ASS FOR? YOU ALWAYS KISS UP-!" The Arrancar - known as Lilynette - screeched.

"There they go again." Mila Rose sighed.

"The jūreichi that's down there beneath us. Aizen said it's a fake. He said they replaced the real one with a replica built by the Soul Society. Before the fire surrounded him, he said all we have to do is invade the Soul Society and obtain the jūreichi. But, is it really necessary to go through all that trouble? I figure from what he said earlier, it works like this. he said they placed four pillars on each side of the town and used the power of the pillars to swap out the entire place. So, what would happen if we destroy those pillars? Now, Findorr." Barragan explained, and his assumption was absolutely correct.

"Sir." The blonde-haired Arrancar - known as Findorr - replied as a loud whistling began, hurting Ayame's ears slightly.

Four other Gargantas opened and along with them, four huge Arrancars came out.

"I know where those pillars are located. There's a method to placing things like them. I'm certain they're positioned at the four cardinal points." The elderly Espada informed the rest of his group, and Ayame was quite surprised at how intelligent he was.

Marechiyo screeched with shock and despair, "AHHH! THIS IS TERRIBLE! THEY KNOW! THEY KNOW~!"

The four hollows went towards the four pillars and began to bite, punch, squeeze and kick them with all their strength.

"THIS IS BAD. IF THEY END UP DESTROYING THOSE PILLARS, THE REAL KARAKURA TOWN THAT WE SENT TO THE SOUL SOCIETY WILL COME BACK HERE AND YOU KNOW WHAT THAT WOULD MEAN, THE REAL KARAKURA TOWN WIL BECOME NOTHING BUT A BATTLE FIELD!" Marechiyo yelled out.

"Quiet down, you fool." Ayame ordered him, growing irritated with his constant screeching, screaming and whimpering.

"How naïve do you think I am? I would never allow any of these pillars to be unprotected." Yamamoto snapped at the Squad Two Lieutenant.

"Extend, Hozukimaru!"

One of the Arrancars were cut down by the familiar bald-headed male.

"Bloom, Fuji Kujaku."

Another Arrancar was cut by the beauty-obsessed fifth seat, Yumichika.

"RAISE YOUR HEAD, WABISUKE!"

The third Arrancar was cut down by the Lieutenant of Squad Three while the last Arrancar was cut down by the Lieutenant of Squad Nine, who didn't release his zanpakutō.

"I have stationed capable fighters to defend these pillars." Yamamoto announced.

"WHAAAAAAAAATTTTT!" Marechiyo shrieked. "IKKAKU! YUMICHIKA! IZURU! SHUHEI! I THOUGHT THEY WERE HOLDING DOWN THE FORT BACK HOME! I SHOULD'VE KNOWN WHEN THEY WEREN'T THERE WHEN WE WERE ASSEMBLED. I FELT GOOD THAT THE SOUL SOCIETY WAS COUNTING ON ME INSTEAD OF THEM. 'HAHA, SERVED THEM RIGHT,' I THOUGHT. WAIT, HOLD ON. ALL OF YOU KNEW ABOUT THIS?"

"Sure did." Shunsui answered, tilting his hat slightly.

"It's an insult to think we're like you." Rangiku replied.

"WHAT?" Marechiyo screeched.

"I did tell you about it. I think you were munching on fried crackers and missed when I said it, and you did look kind of dazed from eating so much." SoiFon told him.

"Me?!" Marechiyo yelled out.

"That's the only explanation. Munching Marechiyo." Rangiku smirked.

"C'MON!" Marechiyo screamed.

"You were the one in a daze as you had a fried cracker feeding frenzy." Rangiku replied as they began to argue.

"Maybe I didn't tell him..." SoiFon hummed as Ayame attempted to hide a chuckle.

"Four new soliders... They can't stop us now. It's as though four ants guard those pillars, since that's the case we will squash them with four dragons." Barragan spoke. "Pō, Chuhlhourne, Abirama, Findorr, go crush them."

"Sir, as you have commanded, your majesty." Those named replied as they flew away. A few minutes later, three of them were killed.

BOOM.

The blonde snapped her head back to see one of the pillars crumbling down, causing her blue eyes to widen. All of the fighters that Yamamoto had positioned at the pillars were extremely strong and capable fighters - they couldn't have been taken down, not so easily.

"The pillar is crumbling down." Ayame announced to the rest of the group, causing others to look over at where her eyes were.

"Ikkaku's down!" Toshiro informed everyone, telling Ayame who it was and causing a gasp to escape her lips.

"Then he was defeated?" SoiFon questioned, her eyes narrowed.

Ayame felt for the male's spiritual pressure, and managed to feel a small ripple of it, "No. He's still alive, but barely. I can feel his spiritual pressure."

The blonde soon noticed that the real Karakura Town was coming back. She went to flash step towards it, but someone grabbed her wrist before she could move. The small female turned her head around to see Sajin, and she nodded at him before going back to where she previously stood, allowing Sajin and Tetsuzaemon to deal with the situation.

Sajin managed to punch the giant in the face and a few minutes later, Sajin had released his Bankai and the giant had released his Resurrección, which just made him more bigger. The Arrancar began to form a cero, but Sajin just pushed the cero back into the Arrancar's mouth, forcing him to explode himself. The Arrancar collapsed and Sajin delivered the final blow, cleaving him in half.

"NO MERCY!" Marechiyo screeched in shock, causing Ayame to roll her eyes.

"It's for the best." SoiFon told him.

"I don't think it matters whether it's the real or the replica town that was destroyed. Squad Seven is going to be in the red for the rest of the fiscal year." Rangiku released a small sigh of pity for the Squad.

"The Captain won't let the squad shoulder the bill. He'll pay out of his own pocket for any damages that may have been caused during the operation." Ayame informed the female, remembering what Sajin had told the rest of the Captains a while ago.

Toshiro gave a small smile towards Ayame before he added, "That's the kind of leader that Captain Komamura is."

"Is that for real? Alright! Then I'm not going to worry anymore! Yeah!" Rangiku bounced around with joy spread across her features, though her happiness was quickly shut down.

"That doesn't apply to you. Anything you break will be immediately deducted from your salary. No arguments." Toshiro grumbled at his Lieutenant.

"You tight worm! Oh and there were so many things I wanted to buy this month!" Rangiku complained.

Toshiro gained an irk mark before replying to Rangiku, "Just get over it."

"Chuhlhourne, Abirama, Findorr, Pō. Useless fools!" The elderly Espada growled before standing up, making Ayame snap back into reality.

All of the Arrancars that the Espada had sent had been defeated.

"Lord Barragan! We're terribly sorry sir. We know it is our duty to do away with these Soul Reapers immediately, so please, sit while we take care of them." An Arrancar spoke, and Ayame rolled her eyes at his arrogance.

SoiFon smirked and within a few seconds, everybody was racing towards an opponent while Ayame stood next to the Head Captain, waiting for his order.

Toshiro and Rangiku were surrounded by the female Espada and her subordinates. Shunsui and Jushiro had decided to oppose the male Espada and young female Arrancar while SoiFon and Marechiyo decided to face against the two remaining subordinates of the elderly male.

The blonde glanced around at everyone, before turning to face the Arrancar who had spoke earlier with a smirk on her lips, "So just who are you going to do away with? Are you planning of doing away with our men down there, or did you mean killing all of us?" Ayame questioned, her blue eyes narrowing when he didn't reply. "Speak up. The cat got your tounge?"

"Depending on your reply, we'll start by doing away with you two. Actually, I'm going to get rid of you, no matter what." SoiFon continued as she unsheathed her zanpakutō.

"NOT QUITE!" Lilynette yelled out as she went to charge towards SoiFon, but the male Espada held her back. "What are you doing?"

"Don't be crazy." He told her.

Yamamoto spoke. "Very well. Shall we at last get on with the real fight?"