ICE HEART
xxviii. mere
❝HOW PITIFUL.❞

Shuhei swung his chains, which were attached to Ayon, towards himself, bringing the foul beast closer to us. While that happened, Izuru flash stepped away to tend to Rangiku's and Momo's fatal wounds. The blonde gritted her teeth thinking about both of the wounds that the Lieutenants had sustained.

"I couldn't protect them." Ayame thought to herself, clenching her fists together tightly.

"Hado Number Eleven, Tsuzuri Raiden." Shuhei spoke as a yellow bolt extended up the chains of his zanpakutō and across the monster's face.

"It had no effect." Ayame noted as Shuhei leapt up and dragged the chains along with him, causing the hollow to come with him.

Shuhei threw the chains to the ground and Ayame assumed it was time for her to step in. The blonde knew that she couldn't do much without releasing her Shikai, but she didn't want to use it yet, so she simply just covered the monster with a thin layer of ice, hoping that it would hold him down for a while.

Shuhei charged towards Ayon, ready to exterminate the monster. However, Ayame's eyes widened when the ice shattered, freeing Ayon from his icy doom. Ayon attempted to grab Shuhei, but luckily Shuhei managed to flash step away before he was grabbed. The petite female quickly flash stepped towards him, guilt slowly building up inside of her.

"I'm sorry that my ice wasn't thick enough to hold him down. I'm under strict orders from Head Captain Yamamoto to not use my true power." Ayame informed him, her gaze directed towards the ground.

"It's fine." He replied as Ayon stood back up again, causing Shuhei to sigh, "Damn monster."

The monster easily ripped off Shuhei's chains that were tied around his body, making the blonde's eyes widen. It shouldn't have surprised her too much, with the large amount of strength that Ayame had, it should've been easy to destroy Shuhei's chains.

"He had no trouble breaking free. He's a lot more powerful than I expected." Ayame spoke up, voicing her thoughts to Shuhei.

Unexpectedly, Ayon rushed towards Shuhei and grabbed him, punching the blonde in the stomach in the process. The small woman felt something break and she instantly knew it was one of her ribs. As she went flying through the air, panic built up inside of Ayame. Soon enough, the blonde smashed into a building and erupted into a frenzy of coughing. The blonde covered her mouth with her hand and when she pulled away, she noticed the familiar red substance known as blood covering her hand. The blonde gazed up, not caring about her own injuries, and noticed that Shuhei was squirming hopelessly in Ayon's death grip.

"SHUHEI!" Ayame cried out while gripping her stomach tightly.

"DAMN IT!" He yelled, trying to escape from the grasp of the beast.

"SHUHEI! CAPTAIN KIREINA!" Izuru screeched as Shuhei squealed in pain.

Ayame stabbed her zanpakutō into the ground and used it to help her stand up. She knew that she couldn't do much with her injuries and without using her Shikai, but she had to try.

"I'm sorry, Old Man Yama, but I won't be able to follow your order."

The blonde slowly and carefully approached the foul monster who had injured her comrades and the people whom she cared about. Ayame gritted her teeth as she watched the beast bring Shunei closer to his putrid mouth, ready to devour him whole. However, blue orbs widened when Ayame noticed Tetsuzaemon appear behind Ayon, ready to strike. Unfortunately, an eye appeared where Tetsuzaemon was aiming and shot out a large cero at him, completely engulfing the poor male.

"TETSUZAEMON!"

Ayame clenched her fist, causing her knuckles to go white and her nails to pierce her skin, as she watched Shuhei get thrown into a wall. He couldn't defend himself anymore and the blonde knew that for a fact. He was probably too injured to resist by now. Ayon began to squeeze Shuhei to death and soon enough Shuhei was coughing up blood, Ayame's worry for him increasing more and more with every second that went by. Soon enough, Shuhei became limp in Ayon's arms and he threw him away, not bothering to deal with the injured male any longer.

Ayon began to slowly stomp towards  a frightened Izuru, who was still healing Rangiku's and Momo's wounds. Ayame knew that Izuru wouldn't be able to do anything to damage Ayon while he was healing Rangiku and Momo and the small female knew that she couldn't do anything without going into Shikai.

"Are you doubting my abilities, Queen?" Kōri no Joō questioned.

"I can only freeze people slightly without using my shikai, that isn't going to be much help here." Ayame informed her zanpakutō.

"Incorrect. Don't worry, just follow your instincts, Queen." Kōri no Joō told her, causing Ayame's eyes to narrow in curiosity.

Ayame smiled lightly and decided to intervene at the last second, following her instinct like Kōri no Joō had told her to do. She landed on her hands and knees, panting heavily as the pain in her stomach increased. The blonde her head back and was surprised to see a hole blown through the foul beast's chest, causing blood to spray out of the wound.

"Did I... Did I do that?" Ayame questioned in her thoughts.

"I told you to use your instincts, didn't I? You are extremely powerful, my Queen, with or without Shikai." Kōri no Joō replied, conforming that it was the blonde who had formed a hole in the beast's chest.

Ayame noticed a very familiar spiritual pressure next to her and smiled as she saw Yamamoto hovering over her. He knelt down to help the blonde and she instantly noticed the concern written in his narrowed eyes.

"Don't worry about me, Head Captain. It would be a problem if the Head Captain had to come out and fight now, wouldn't it?" Ayame smirked.

"It's fine, Ayame." He replied sternly.

"It was good that I did come along. After all, if I didn't come along I can only imagine the lecture you would be giving my subordinates." Ayame commented, before mocking his tone and speaking. "Inexcusable! Making a Head Captain come out here to the front lines! You squad members are quite a disappointment!"

The blonde noticed a small smile appear on his face, but that smile soon turned into a frown as Ayon began to repeatedly hit the place where a hole was blown out of his chest. Blood was streaming down from the wound and dripping from his hand. Suddenly, his spiritual pressure increased massively as he let out a large battle cry.

"Head Captain, how about I take on this beast? It's been a while since you've seen my skills." The petite female chuckled, gazing at the person who taught her when she was younger.

"Fine, but be careful now. I wouldn't want my best student dying on me." Yamamoto warned her.

"You can't get rid of me so easily." She replied with a smirk as she increased her spiritual pressure, making her haori fly behind her like a butterfly that flies in the wind.

Ayame let out a small giggle as the sensation of releasing her spiritual pressure after so long seemed quite pleasant.

"It appears that you haven't learnt your lesson, even after getting a hole blasted through your chest. How unfortunate, for you that is." Ayame chuckled, twisting her zanpakutō in her hand.

Ayon roared once more before the hole in his chest was filled. The beast began to grow taller and bulkier and while doing so, it began to destroy the buildings surrounding them. Ayon reached a hand out towards the female, but she easily flash stepped away. She gritted her teeth as she felt a sharp pain in her stomach - the broken rib from earlier.

"Kōri no Joō, can you try and heal my wound?" Ayame questioned.

"I'll try, Queen."

The blonde female smirked slightly before flash stepping next to Ayon's arm and placing her hand on it, surprising the beast.

"When you're ready, I'll be right here. It's now obvious to me that you are just a simple beast who lives for killing. How pitiful." Ayame commented as Ayon  roared and went to swipe her, "Freeze the lands and surround your opponents in ice, Kōri No Joō."

The blonde quickly jumped up and cut the beast on half easily as ice began to cover him. The body splits in half while blood flies everywhere, staining the walls and floor. The two halves of Ayon's body fall to the ground and she began to walk back to Yamamoto until the blonde noticed one of Ayon's hand twitch.

"So you're refusing to die, is that it?" Ayame spoke, returning her attention back to Ayon. "How unfortunate. It pains me to continuously beat on such an unfortunate beast."

The ice covering one half of Ayon's body shatters and that half of his body manages to stand back up and lets out a large battle cry.

"This is your last warning."

Ayon began to approach Ayame, and she sighed.

"This is it."

An explosion of ice occurred while Ayame twisted her white katana in her hand. When the dust had cleared, there was no remains of the foul beast. The blonde panted heavily, taking note of how much energy that attack had used. The blonde quickly flash stepped towards Yamamoto and noticed a small smile on his face.

"You've grown, Ayame. I'm very proud of you." He commented, before turning to Izuru. "Izuru, strengthen your barrier. This fight is not yet over."

The three girls from before - Sung-Sun, Mila Rose and Apacci - charged towards Yamamoto and Ayame. The blonde quickly gathered to strength to stand up but noticed that Yamamoto had stepped in front of her, making the female raise an eyebrow.

"I admire your bravery in challenging me with only one arm." Yamamoto commented as a huge explosion of fire occurred. "As a show of respect, I'll let you off with just burns."

All three bodies fell to the ground and Ayame noticed that none of them had the strength to move the slightest inch anymore. The blonde focused on the other battles happening around them.

"Toshiro is struggling" Ayame thought to herself. "Kōri No Joo, have you finished healing me yet?"

"I will be finished in a few minutes. Please, try and stay out of battles until then." She replied.