Cruel

"You seem to be having fun." A playful female voice said.

The voice was in my head and no else could hear it.

"Now's not the time for this."

I dodged a slash from the axe-wielding bull and had to jump to avoid a slash from the back.

"Why don't you use it? Don't wanna let me out? is that it?"

I ignored the voice and got back to the fight at hand. They used interesting techniques such as a technique very similar to a shinigami's shunpo and another that hardened their skin. But the most interesting was their transformation.

The way I saw it was that they were going back to their original form as a hollow. Though that would only make sense if they were never regular hollows. The way it would work is that they sealed a part of their reiatsu into their blades and released when they needed it and that would give them.

"Julieta, plan Ocho."

"Understood Maria."

The bull-woman took her giant axe and threw it at me with all her monstrous strength.

While that happened Maria flew above me with her butterfly wings and out of her wings fell pink coloured dust. I didn't bother moving from it because I was interested in what would happen.

I wouldn't call it arrogance. I'd call it confidence.

As the dust settled on me the effect was quite obvious. Paralysis.

So this was "Plan Ocho." The bull throws the axe while I'm paralysed.

Smart but not good enough.

The axe was on course to piercing my chest. However, it stopped as if there was a shield in front of my body. It looked like as it had pierced the air.

The molecules that make up gases in the atmosphere are free and fly in all sorts of directions, but by organising their molecules in a set and firm way I could make the air hard in a sense.

The effects of the dust stopped on my body simply after a simple gust of wind blew it off my body.

"Shinigami battles are a battle of two things. Creativity and ambition. Having the ambition to win and the ingenuity to adapt. You have the former but do you have the latter?"

I pulled the sleeve of my Shihakusho and there was my yellow bracelet. A reiatsu limiter. I based it off the design which the scientists who worked for the central 46 made for Shinigami. While that one reduces reiryoku by 80% mine reduced it by 50%. The main difference was that I had my on all the time no matter where I mean so for most of the battles I'm in I'm limited.

When I took it off I could feel the flow of Reiryoku in my body quicken and the reiatsu outside of my body increased.

I didn't take my bracelet off because I felt threatened or anything I just wanted to end this fight as soon as possible.

Quick but efficient.

---------

'He shrugged it off so easily? That paralysis should last 3 minutes. Is his Reiatsu that monstrous that he was able to negate the effect of the ability?'

What made the situation even worse was that his reiatsu was increasing by the second. What was he? I'd never met anyone like this. The way he carries himself with confidence but his skill backs it.

"Let me finish this quickly."

The wind in the area began to grow harsher and faster and he was gone. Gone with the wind.

This wasn't a regular Shinigami Shunpo, it was much faster than it. His reiatsu could actually be felt in his last position. Normally when you use a Shunpo or a Sonido your Reiatsu follows you but this wasn't that. He moved so fast that there was a lag on his reiatsu.

It was almost impossible to sense him.

I heard Julieta scream in pain as her right arm was cut off but still he was nowhere to be seen.

I felt a cut on my stomach as the wind rushed past me.

"You know by reducing the air resistance around you a Shinigamis Shunpo is around 8 times faster. Just the reduction of air resistance does that much."

"Has anyone told you talk a lot?"

"Several. I'll just add you to a growing list." he laughed. But what he didn't know was that Julieta was behind him. She had a charged-up Cero on her finger, there's no way he could dodge.

"Die!"

A hit! The Cero hit him. Finally, we got him.

However, the person she saw falling was Julieta with a giant gash on her chest. When did he attack her? Julieta's transformation became undone. Was she dead?

"She died? I wanted to see if she could do more."

"You're inhuman. That's it. You're not a normal person. There's no way you can be this cold and cruel. You come to our home and kill our people, even a child could see that you're morally wrong."

I stuttered over my words and my tongue felt twisted. There was this feeling in my chest.

"I don't bring ethics in battle. But I'll tell you this, you aren't good people either. That Shinigami group 850 years ago you slaughtered them all and out 800 shinigami sent only 13 came back. I'll let you think about that fact before you die, Maria." He said.

"Don't say my name as if you know who I am you disgusting Shinigami."

"Maybe that's a bad choice for last words."

"Personal Hado: Piercing arrow."

A bow appeared in his hand and an arrow in the other. I couldn't move due to the cut I sustained earlier. It completely tore into my flesh and muscles.

This was it for me.

Lord Negar did I serve you well? Did I do enough? Did I uphold the value of ancestors and brethren? I can only hope I did my job and our children carry on my will in the future.

"Goodbye, Maria the hollow."