Chapter 73 - Shinigami Side

HEUCO MUNDO

The Shinigami's were utterly exhausted, and what marred their faces weren't countenances of relief, but rather a tone of despair, which naturally meant that the fight hadn't ended but evolved beyond their cognition.

The cause of that despair was the newly arisen mountains surrounding their battlefield.

Now before these mountains arose, the incomplete Guardian Beasts could bȧrėly hold their ground against these Shinigami's.

After all fighting mindless beasts just happened to be their speciality.

So at the beginning of the fight, other than the surprise attack and few complications of various reasons, very few Shinigami were killed or wounded.

As the fight progressed, even fewer Shinigami were wounded and nearly no one else died.

But just as they were about to win and capture these beasts, according to Urahara's instructions.

These sharp jagged mountains appeared, and from that moment onwards, what came about became hard for the Shinigami to explain.

Information is the priority in any war, sometimes even above lives.

So when they first saw the mountains rise, they held back, mostly due to fear of facing a backlash of a failed Spell.

But that became their greatest folly.

Because after their rise, the helpless Guardian Beasts became more than dangerous.

Now beating these mindless beasts once more would have been no bigger issue. What troubled them more was the near endless vitality and regeneration they had suddenly achieved.

A scary demon is one that never dies.

Naturally they looked for someone to curb such regeneration, Gin.

He wielded his bladed and shouted at the top of his lungs "Bankai".

Taking a step back and sending his blade flying, screeching, extending in unimaginable speeds, it flew and stabbed every beast at least once.

With the potent poison attributed to his blade, that much should have been enough.

One stab was enough to even kill Gods, isn't that the essence of his Bankai, the God Slayer.

That was why the Shinigami's became lax for a moment.

But surprisingly enough, with a intense luminous shine of the five jagged mountains. The Guardian Beasts did not die.

This was enough to bring cold sweat in Gin's brow.

He himself knew the potency of the poison he wielded.

If he stabbed even a so called Real God, they would die, that was how corrosive and soul suċkɨnġ his poison was.

But what appeared after the short shine was strings of gold attached to all four Guardian Beasts.

So under the mountains the Guardian Beasts became near invincible existences.

As it was said before 'A scary demon is one that never dies, then a terrifying one would be one that never falls, and an incomprehensible one would be one that never bleeds'.

So began their bitter struggle with these mindless beasts.

The fights were pretty much the same, all except for one problem, Fatigue.

It kept piling up until the Shinigami could not maintain a constant amount of concentration in the battlefield.

A single ŀȧpse in such a dangerous fight was bound to be fatal, much more when your body was the first to just suddenly give out and go numb.

Damage soon began to stack and by the fifth time the Divine Beasts revived again, not many could maintain a combative state.

Normally in such a case the Shinigami would instantly retreat, thereby keeping the loss to a minimum.

Or that is what normal protocol should have been.

As people grow older, we become judging and our experiences build, which make for the largest part of our knowledge.

So even if we don't want to, we judge first, then think later. Such is the reason why Old people seem so stubborn.

Urahara is a mad genius, a once in a millenium seen genius.

But the problem with such a genius, is that he has lived for too long. He has accumulated so much experience that it has become his natural shackle.

Stubborn to a tee, wouldn't show his zeal for more knowledge. Addiction to the stimulation of new information would probably be the right term.

He knows nearly everything about the world he lives in, the three realms of Bleach. It is because he nearly knows everything that it becomes a problem, since knowing everything comes at a price.

Because of this he can't be stimulated with mere basic knowledge or information. So when he gazed at the mountains and saw from his own eyes the complicated structuring of Reishi.

It flipped his switch, and as good as a man he was, he made a fatal judgement that spelt the near extinction of the Hunting Squad.

Seeing Urahara in a daze, Gin looked over to the next best person to take advice from, Aizen.

When both Gin and Aizen's gazes met, they both instantly knew what they needed to do.

Gin went for Urahara, and Aizen ordered for the retreat.

The Beasts under their gold shiny collars had become obedient enough to let them escape without showing it.

It was just a test drive anyway.

But it was at such a final moment that Urahara began to put up a fight. He would not leave without the recording the knowledge in front of him.

It was like asking a phone addict to shut down his phone and just lie around and sleep for a day. It was maddening and craze inducing.

Gin wouldn't take No as an answer, but he was very badly mismatched in the fight.

Urahara may seem like a weak scientist but he was anything but weak. So before the fight even began Gin was already shoved towards the Guardian Beasts, bringing a start to the seventh round of battles.

Aizen who had called for the retreat was not happy with the way things were progressing. He sighed and right before Urahara's eyes unsheathed his blade.

Normally Aizen wouldn't care and end all fights in an instant. But that kind of thing has to do with how meticulously he plans for events to happen.

Though showing a few of his cards still made him feel bitter, it was still within his scope of plans to show some abilities to everyone else.

Suddenly Urahara's eyes dimmed and he fainted and this gave every Shinigami the signal to instantly use Shunpo and disappear from the vicinity.

An unwinnable fight is one that a commander should do everything to avoid, more so when their morale was falling at a steep rate.

Out of the entire Hunting Squad only 7 made it out alive, the rest either had no Reishi left to fight or had been crunched under beaks and fangs.

As soon as they reached Soul Society, relief washed over the survivors. But it was only for a moment, for as soon as Urahara woke up, Gin strutted to him in a fit or rage.

Gin - "Are you fuċkɨnġ serious ?".

Urahara was in a daze for he had but just woken up, but before he could even gain some sort of semblance to the situation he was in, a fist fell on his face, and he was shoved to the ground with his hat falling down his head.

Gin's rage unquelled he went for another punch to the face. Only for Aizen to block him.

Gin - "Are you seriously stopping me right now ?".

Aizen - "With the way he is right now, what's the point ?".

Only then did they realise that Urahara had not reacted to the punch at all. He was in a some sort of trance his body giving out a destitute like depression, as if hope had been stolen from him at the last moment.

Calming a bit down, Gin squinted his eyes and continued.

Gin - "Let's first make our report".

At that moment he suddenly looked very tired, his shoulders felt heavy and he walked like an old warrior. He had the cause of the death of his squad member's right in front of him, but he could not even hit him properly.

For right now as Urahara was, Gin was sure it would fly over his head. Remorse wasn't present in his eyes only but a sense of loss, not for the death of the Shinigami who fought for him but for the loss of the knowledge he would've acquired.

Long lived humans are far less humane than you may expect.

After all the same emotions in a repetitive sense make you numb.

A numb human is not completely evil but neither is he completely good. They are neutral Bench Sitters.

Gin went ahead with Aizen to report to Yamamoto, while Urahara was shackled and put on house arrest.

The tall building wherein housed all the captains of Soul Society felt like a mountain of blades to Gin.

As he passed by the Academy he saw a boy wielding his Tanto like a mad demon. It attracted his gaze with how much negative emotions were over flowing from him.

The child looked like a beast draped in blood, uncaring for his body in the least and only went about fighting.

What drove him towards such madness ?.

Who knew, at least Gin didn't ?.

Taking away his gaze he went for the headquarters and sat at his seat.

After completing his report, Gin once again began.

Gin - "I resign from my post as Captain".

It was going to happen anyway, he just made it happen sooner than planned.

Though everybody was a bit surprised, it wasn't really an amazing news.

Yamamoto gazed at Gin, sterness in his eyes, as he said.

Yamamoto - "Are you sure ?".

Captains are naturally the best human resource, Soul Society has accomplished. Since to even hold the post of captain, requires one to achieve Bankai.

Of which there are naturally too few present.

With the loss of such manpower it would be grievous damage to the combat power of Soul Society as a whole.

Gin - "Yes, I am sure".

Seeing Gin replying with no hesitation surprised Yamamoto, but he couldn't just force a Captain to maintain his post.

With how many members were left in Gin's squad after this mission, it'd be a surprise if anyone else would want to join such a squad.

Yamamoto - "Derilection of responsibility after this grievous event. Captain Gin are you trying to take all the blame placed upon you".

This was Yamamoto's test of Gin's resolve.

Gin - "Yes, I am willing".

Seeing such unshaken resolve naturally pleased Yamamoto.

Yamamoto - "Then you will serve your squad as the Vice Captain. Hopefully you will understand your folly and take your rightful place later on".

He was being lenient with Gin, seeing how willing Gin was willing to shoulder all responsibility. Also since Urahara wasn't in a state to take this task.

Yamamoto - "For now we will still need you and Aizen's expertise in this Hollow, Yin".

Gin was willing and thus everyone began questioning, with the first question of the meeting being.

Kenpachi - "Who is Yin ?".

Facepalming, Yachiru reprimanded Kenoachi and explained exactly who was Yin.

After a short round of offhanded discussion they naturally came to a question.

Unohana - "Just how strong is Yin, we need an estimate, provided that we felt and know just what he is".

The meeting came to a standstill.

Until Yamamoto raised his head and coughed, attracting the gazes of all present.

Yamamoto - "Ahem, if we overestimate him then probably Soul King Level".

Kenpachi - "Soul King What ???".

This time Yachiru didn't reprimand Kenpachi she was just that astonished.

Soi Fon - "Wait a minute, so we sent only Two Captain level existences against an estimated Soul King Level ?".

Unohana - "Captain Yamamoto did say an overestimation and Yin does have a few kinks that make him feel like a Soul King Level Hollow".

From the report everyone knew why Unohana said such a thing.

Creation, one of the sole rights of the Soul King. After all the entire Bleach world was the Soul King's doing.

Creation is not that hard in the Bleach Verse since all its metaphysical laws are very messed up. But it still follows the laws of conservation, as such for Zanpakuto to achieve Bankai requires a tremendous amount of time.

But creating and making beasts with a little intelligence through pure Reishi is not really possible, except for the Soul King. Yin being the sole exception.

Soi Fon - "So unless we know for sure, Yin will remain a Soul King Level Hollow, the first of his kind. So do we hunt him down or just keep him at bay".

Yamamoto looked around and said.

Yamamoto - " Unless it's me and Zero Squad teaming together, you can forget trying to feel the power of an estimated Soul King".

Silence descended upon the meeting room.

Yamamoto - "Sigh, a report and run in sight order will be placed on the Hollow Yin".

With that order placed down, the meeting came to an end.