Siege Warfare

A wry smile appeared on Orihime's face when she found the presence of another Arrancar. She had a suspicion that there was a leader among those two since they were too weak to break the barrier. This one probably broke the barrier and sent the two of them in to test the waters.

The barrier was cracked open and a large burly man stepped through. He had a hole in his chest like a Hollow, but his mask was successfully removed. This seemed to be a successful experiment. He drew his sword and struck down at Orihime.

Orihime casually dodged to the side while holding her index and middle finger pointed towards the Arrancar. Naturally, he had watched the fight before and went on guard. However, Orihime wasn't dumb. She was actually performing a Kido with her other hand secretly.

A small red orb appeared on her right hand and the Arrancar focused on it. Orihime smirked and a yellow tendril snaked along the ground. The monster didn't notice it in time and the tendril began wrapping around it.

"#4 Hainawa, got you, hehe. Makanko!"

Once the yellow rope tightened around the Arrancar, the beam blasted right at its head. However, what she didn't expect was a powerful spike in Reiatsu. A beam similar in strength collided with her Makanko. This was a Hollow's Cero but when used by an Arrancar its strength far surpassed a regular Cero.

"So, you are actually a successful experiment where your lackeys were failures. How cunning."

"Hehe, seems I've been found out. I will devour you…"

The Arrancar licked his lips and began to transform. Orihime didn't just let him transform without paying a price so she activated Shunko with all of her Reiatsu and struck at him. Unfortunately, the force of transformation was able to slow her down enough for him to block with his Zanpakuto.

However, it seemed that Orihime was still being underestimated as his Zanpakuto shattered. She didn't have time to gloat because he swung the broken sword at her. Orihime dodged with Shunpo, grabbed his wrist and threw him to the ground.

Then, she twisted his arm backwards behind him causing it to break at the joint and dislocate at the shoulder. With his sword arm disabled she began pummeling his back with a rapid series of attacks.

The ground shook at her titanic strength and, after a hundred blows, her Shunko wore off. The Arrancar eventually fell apart into ash and she absorbed a much larger strand, pushing her into the next barrier of hogyoku's awakening.

However, what shook her was a lust which coursed through her body. The larger strand of energy also carried with it a more powerful will. However, instead of hunger or hatred, she only felt a dense yearning directed at herself.

This strange phenomenon caused her to collapse and shudder in ecstasy. She realized that this wasn't just the remnant will of the Arrancar, but also a portion of its senses. A smell permeated the air around Orihime causing her to go crazy at her own scent. She wanted to devour herself, but naturally that wasn't possible.

"Have… I been… attracting them… with this scent?"

Orihime was completely defenseless, but the sudden overwhelming feeling surprised her. After an unknown amount of time, she got up and regained her bearings. She looked over at the crack in the barrier that had already repaired itself and couldn't sense any more entities.

"This is all my fault. I should have realized something was strange a month ago. I'm luring these Arrancar here."

She pondered exiting the barrier to protect the juniors. Something deep inside her subconscious was pushing her to risk herself. However, exiting the barrier was far more dangerous than it seemed.

Not having access to a hell butterfly or soul pager, there would be no way to contact Soul Society to bring her back once outside. She would essentially be abandoning her post, awaiting to be arrested.

"I'll worry about that later, hogyoku show me what you can do."

[Updated Abilities:

-Akashic Records (Second Floor)]

[Accessing Akashic Records… Granted. Creating Gentei Kaijo.]

The emblem of squad twelve, a thistle, appeared under her collarbone and began to release the spiritual limiter. Orihime could feel the seal slowly being removed and her Reiatsu gushed out. She sighed in relief; She was fortunate not to face anymore enemies, as she had exhausted the limit of her strength while sealed.

However, just as she was reacclimating to her returned strength, she felt five strong sources of Reiatsu appear outside the barrier. They remained for a moment before splitting up. This caused her to curse at their cleverness.

These were most likely all Gillians. She was sure no Vasto Lorde arrived or this barrier would be a joke. As for Adjuchas, she could probably fight a weaker one, but defeating them was most likely impossible. Therefore, she did not want to admit the possibility of them having arrived.

After a whole day of patrolling, they had not attacked. It seemed that these Arrancar knew some strategy. They realized that the group was trapped inside the barrier. Therefore, they were applying simple siege tactics to wear them out.

Occasionally they would fire off an attack and cause Orihime to go on high alert, but when she arrives there's nothing there. She could not just ignore it either, because, if the one time she does and they attack; She would be to blame.

"Orihime, you should take a break and rest. Let Oshino and I patrol."

"Impossible, you two can't face these enemies. They are stronger than the average Gillian. Their group together could beat a Lieutenant. Individually they are at least as strong as a fifth seat. Not to mention the strange Zanpakuto and transformation they have."

"But—"

"No buts. What if an Adjuchas level Hollow shows up? I'm the only one here that can hold it back."

"That's exactly why you should rest. At this rate they will defeat us without fighting while you exhaust yourself."

"I'll be fine. You need to keep working on a way to move the communication device outside of the barrier. You are the only one that attended advanced reconnaissance in this group, Oshino."

Getting their acknowledgement was a lot of effort but they finally relented. Orihime's plan was to leave the barrier if things went south, so she couldn't have them risking themselves for nothing. Although it would harm her reputation, she knew this was the right thing to do.

'Hogyoku, what would happen if you unsealed my power prematurely?'

[Underdevelopment of Zanpakuto Spirit… Loss of Bankai Potential]

'Erm, can't you just restart the process again later?'

[Requirement: Full Awakening]

Orihime held her head and sighed. There are still seventeen days until her powers finish evolving. The only hope is to stall until reinforcements arrive. However, She wasn't wasting her time during this siege. She had laid down several barrier traps that she could lead the enemy into.

During the middle of the fifth day, she ran to the location where she sensed the Arrancar like usual. However, this time the Arrancar seemed to be unable to hold back and broke through. It immediately triggered several barrier traps. Its body was torn into shreds as barriers of varying sizes activated along its body, severing limbs.

Orihime simply laughed at the weak Arrancar that fell for her trap, but knew that the others would most likely be able to avoid dying this way. Such a trick could only be used once or twice. After absorbing the energy, emotions washed over her again, but this time she expected it and was able to stay calm.

"I'm afraid if I do kill a high ranked Arrancar and absorb the energy in them, I won't be able to take it."

She shuddered at the thought and was determined to absorb as much weaker intent as she could to get used to it. At least she could confirm these were all experiments with the other hogyoku. Orihime refocused and spread her awareness around again.

The first Arrancar dying seemed to trigger a frenzy and the others broke through simultaneously in different locations. Orihime clicked her tongue at their strategy. This was exactly the situation she was trying to prevent.

"The barrier traps should still slow them down even if they don't kill them. Well, guess I'll go to the closest one first."

Orihime used Shunpo and arrived in front of an Arrancar whom was attacking the barrier with reckless abandon, unable to break out. As soon as she arrived it looked at her in a very unsavory way. She wasn't going to play around so she began an incantation.

"Ye lord! Mask of flesh and bone, flutter of wings, ye who bears the name of Man! Truth and temperance, upon this sinless wall of dreams unleash but slightly the wrath of your claws."

"Hado #33. Sokatsui!"

An opening appeared on one side of the barrier long enough for the immense destructive power to crash into the other four walls. This caused the force of the explosion to collapse back in on itself. After the Reiatsu dissipated and barrier shattered, the Arrancar inside was completely obliterated before it could do anything.

Orihime quickly claimed the energy strand and made her way to the next target. However, in mid-Shunpo, a fully released Arrancar slammed her into the ground with a lariat.

---------------

(A/N: Just want to clarify a few consistency things. Arrancar existed before Aizen intervened. He has been plotting this for several decades based on the conversation with Nel in the series, popping back and forth between SS and HM.

Once he acquired the hogyoku, the only thing that changed was he took these Arrancar and used the hogyoku to complete their transformation. The reason there are so many experiments is because the hogyoku is still dormant and hes practicing so he can transform the Vasto Lordes flawlessly.

The reason, in the original series, that Aizen's hogyoku woke up so quickly compared to the timing i've been using for Orihime is 1.) he combined the two incomplete hogyoku and 2.) when transforming Arrancar, a portion of their power combines with hogyoku so it speeds up awakening. In theory what she is absorbing is the portion of the other hogyoku that was left inside of them, like equivalent exchange.)