Damnation

Shinji leapt back, narrowly dodging being skewered on one of Hiyori's bone-like blades jutting from her body. This doesn't make sense. Her Inner Hollow took over without issue. But then it looked like even Hiyori's Hollow was somehow forced into Resurrección? And it lost control in the process… Does Hell have some sort of special effect on Shinigami-Hollow hybrids? Or is this a consequence of crossing the line between Vizard and Arrancar?

Shinji spun Sakanade rapidly, spreading the scent that was the key to his Zanpakutō's effect. It seemed to work – Hiyori was now attacking in the opposite direction of where Shinji was, which was enough to buy him some time. Hollows and Arrancar are crippled by damaging the mask. Since Hiyori's Hollow is theoretically the dominant presence, she's an Arrancar right now, and not a Vizard. So breaking the mask could be disastrous. Wish Hachi was with us, he'd figure out a good Bakudō to keep her occupied…

Shinji shook his head, dodging out of the way of one of Hiyori's attacks – she'd actually chosen the right image that time. Only choice is to hurt her bad enough to drop out of Resurrección, but not bad enough to kill her, and hope she doesn't have high speed regeneration to keep her up and fighting. But that'll be tough with just Shikai. Do I dare use the mask?

Hiyori's mouth opened wide, and a Cero charged for only a scant moment before Shinji found himself flashing through the air, trying to evade the deadly beam as she spun around, apparently having decided that if she couldn't guess right, she'd just hit everything at once. That made Shinji's mind up for him. She's too strong, and right now she's too dangerous to the others. Mask it is.

Passing a hand over his face and wordlessly pulling on the mask of the Hollow he might have been and may yet be, Shinji spun Sakanade twice more before using Shunpo to appear directly below and behind Hiyori – as was so predictable, Hiyori swiped upwards at where his mirror image was in her sight.

But by the time Hiyori's berserk self could figure out what had happened, Shinji was ready. From his extended fist, he unleashed an incredibly wide, thin, powerful Cero that rocketed into Hiyori's back. The transformed Vizard let loose a scream of pain and rage as the Cero sliced into her back and thrust her high into the sky, not wounding her too deeply but enough to be extremely painful. With any luck, it would buy Shinji a little time to think of a good enough plan to knock some sense back into Hiyori or her Hollow.

Suddenly, Shinji's head and heart thrummed with power as he felt his Inner Hollow come to the surface. Oi, Shinji! Let me out!

Why? I'm doing just fine.

Can't you sense it, idiot? Hiyori's not the only one who's gone full Hollow!

As if Shinji's Hollow's words were the trigger, Shinji suddenly felt each of his friends racing towards him with full Hollow reiatsu blazing. Once again, he was the last one to transform, just like when they'd first been Hollowified by Aizen. They're not fighting each other, Shinji noted vaguely as he narrowly evaded three Cero beams fired at him from a distance. Just me. They must have finished their opponents, and now see me as the only one not like them…

You should've realized by now, Shinji! The air in Hell… it calls to us, the Inner Hollow explained. It gives us such strength… the only reason I haven't forcibly taken over is that I could see that Hiyori's Hollow lost control as well. Much as I hate it, you're the voice of reason. As long as you're in control, we can stay sane. But there's no point being sane if you're gonna die! So budge over, and let me in!

Shinji was reluctant, but his Hollow had a point. If there was any goal they shared, it was survival, and the Inner Hollow made sense. Plus, Ichigo had said something about trusting their Hollow and working together. If there was ever a time to trust each other, now was it. Alright, you're in.

Shinji's Hollow sent him an impression of a grim, toothy smile. Hang on then, this is gonna be rough. He reached up, and Shinji didn't fight his Hollow's presence as it began to take over…

Ichigo, Soifon and Kokutō arrived at where Shuren's base was, and Ichigo blinked upon seeing it. It was a pit of yellow-orange lava, surrounded by pillars. It looked very ceremonial, and Ichigo had the distinct feeling that he was going to be unpleasantly surprised by it in the near future. In the middle, hanging above the lava, was a small cage with both of his sisters.

"Ichigo!"

"Ichi-nii!"

"Welcome, Kurosaki Ichigo," Shuren greeted him from his perch atop one of the pillars, ignoring the twins. "I knew, of course, that you would not come alone. Not after your pitiful performance last time."

"Give them back!" Ichigo demanded.

"After you release me from Hell, they're free to go," Shuren replied easily, gesturing towards the cage nonchalantly. "Fair trade, isn't it? Oh, and don't bother trying to double-cross me. I anticipated you bringing your friends along, and I do have precautions in place."

Ichigo clenched his fists. "Ichigo, we must act quickly," Kokutō whispered from behind him. "Your sisters have been in here for a while now, and they will succumb to Hell soon."

Like I needed more reminding. But before Ichigo could decide, Soifon blurred out of sight and reappeared behind Shuren, Suzumebachi released and ready on her finger, lunging for the first of two hits that would guarantee a kill.

But Shuren spun around and dodged, apparently having expected that. "You're rather impulsive," he commented amusedly. "But I suppose if that's your decision…" he smirked. "Garogai, Taikon, Gunjō!"

The lava suddenly surged upwards and outwards before pulling back, revealing three vaguely human shapes that the lava dripped off of. Ichigo's eyes went wide as he saw the enemies that his Vizard companions had stayed back to delay.

"That can't be!" Kokutō exclaimed. "You can't have that much power, to affect others' regeneration cycle! It's based on the amount of negative emotion you have, how can you be able to interfere with Hell itself?"

Shuren merely smirked. "Take care of them, but leave Kurosaki Ichigo for me."

Ichigo grit his teeth, drawing his Zanpakutō. "Tear the sky asunder, Zangetsu." As the sword once more shapeshifted into the familiar cleaver, Ichigo brought it forward to his oft-assumed position, black and red reiatsu emanating in wisps from his body. "Now is not the time to hold back! Yuzu, Karin, hang on! I'm coming for you! Bankai!"

Soifon landed next to him and Kokutō a moment later, after the dust kicked up from Ichigo's release of Bankai settled. "I'll take the blob and the giant," Soifon assumed. "Togabito, take out the tentacle user."

"Roger that," Kokutō muttered, disgruntled at how the Shinigami had just taken command, but it was hardly the time to argue over such things. "Ichigo, I'll try to create an opening, you save your sisters."

Ichigo gave him a short nod, eyes narrow and focused on the enemies. Letting loose a fierce battle cry, he and Kokutō leapt forward at high speed towards their respective targets. Shuren merely smirked as he snapped his fingers and created a blade of seemingly-solid fire, slamming it against Tensa Zangetsu to deflect Ichigo's initial attack. Not easily deterred, Ichigo used Shunpo to flicker behind Shuren and slashed at his foe again, only this time to be evaded. Faster and faster he went, being blocked or dodged every time.

"Can't you see, Ichigo, it's useless!" Shuren crowed.

Ichigo screamed in frustration, and suddenly his Gillian mask materialized without being summoned. Deciding to take advantage of the power upgrade and question it later, he threw his left hand forward and fired a blindingly red Cero.

Shuren thrust both his hands in front of him and began releasing so much fire that for a moment, Ichigo wondered if he and Ryūjin Jakka knew each other. But while these flames weren't nearly so hot, they served their purpose of weakening the Cero enough so that by the time it struck Shuren, it did no practical damage.

Meanwhile, Soifon was having a tough enough time as it was. The short and disgustingly fat one, Taikon, was deceptively fast and acrobatic for his stature. While not so fast as to give her a hard time on his own, Taikon also worked well with the giant, Garogai, who fired his enormous fists at her at opportune moments.

Soifon had thought to finish Garogai quickly by using his own attack against him – if he wanted to send pieces of himself at her, she would just strike twice with Suzumebachi and kill him. That would also open up the possibility of ending Taikon without interruption. All in all, Soifon had thought it a decent plan on short notice.

The problem was that Garogai was also protected by Taikon – every time Soifon was in a position to stab at Garogai's hand, Taikon tended to fire his purple explosive reiatsu missiles from a kissing movement, forcing her to dodge out of the way.

Perhaps a change in priorities is prudent. "Bakudō 9: Geki!" Soifon barked, making a slashing movement with her left hand in Garogai's general direction. She almost smiled when she saw the giant's body freeze and glow with a red light, and then turned her undivided attention towards the suddenly apprehensive Taikon.

Lunging at him with the speed of Shunpo, she reached out with her right arm to stab him right in his engorged stomach, but when he suddenly smirked and another mouth appeared and opened there, Soifon abruptly had to halt or else risk be eaten. Alright, physical attacks are extremely risky. Perhaps Kidō will be more effective.

Hearing the low whistle of air being forced away quickly by a large object, Soifon instinctively flickered away just in time to avoid being crushed into a pulp from Garogai's giant fist coming from above. Reappearing a distance away, she frowned pensively, calculating her next move carefully. This will be tricky.

At the same time, Kokutō was dodging and weaving through hordes of tentacles, slicing them off where he could with his wicked onyx blade. Unfortunately, the appendages had a bad tendency of regenerating extremely quickly, making it difficult for Kokutō to get close to Gunjō. Feeling Ichigo's reiatsu skyrocket into Hollowification, Kokutō glanced to the side just long enough to see Ichigo charge a Cero in Shuren's direction. That would be SO useful right about now. Then again…

Suddenly inspired, Kokutō hurled his blade at his opponent through the mass of tentacles. Predictably, Gunjō dodged to the side and resumed his attack, but Kokutō smirked. Materializing the Hell-binding chains that he'd attached to his sword a long time ago, Kokutō channeled some of his own reiatsu and yanked hard, while at the same time narrowly dodging the latest onslaught of tentacles.

Kokutō was gratified to feel his blade connect, could not help but smirk victoriously when he saw that not only had he managed to get Gunjō, but he'd actually managed to cut off the bastard's head. It was a lucky shot, he knew, but sometimes that's all one needed. Now that that was done, Kokutō ran as quickly as he could towards Ichigo's sisters. They can't have long left!

"Kokutō!" Karin gasped as he stood underneath the cage. "Please hurry, Yuzu's unconscious and I can't wake her up!"

"Got it!" Leaping up towards the cage and utilizing the air-walk technique, Kokutō gathered his strength and sliced through the bars in two places. Sheathing his sword, he reached to take Yuzu under his arm when he suddenly felt a rush of fire coming towards them. Unable to move for fear that Ichigo's sisters would be killed, Kokutō had no choice but to stand and bear it. He grit his teeth in pain as fire scorched his back, but luckily the fire was cut off quickly. A little more shakily, Kokutō grabbed both twins and leapt down to safety behind one of the stone pillars. Setting them down, Kokutō reached out with his power and opened a portal to the living world.

… or tried to. He was being blocked? Fuck. Putting on a brave smile for the ones Ichigo had come to save, Kokutō tried to reassure them. "Alright, Plan A didn't work, but don't worry, we'll get you out of here."

"What's Plan B?" Karin demanded.

"Plan B is to kill the ones who kidnapped you, wait for your brother's friends to rejoin us, and use their signal to get our friends in the living world to bail us out," Kokutō made up on the spot. "I'm going to stay here and make sure you don't get hit by any stray shots, so sit tight. Your big brother'll be done soon."

Yoruichi cursed as she raced alongside Rukia, Renji and Hitsugaya down through the second level of Hell with Masaki on her back. The Vizard had all Hollowified and were chasing them, sending horrifyingly powerful Ceros at them, or attempting to intercept and slash at them. None of them seemed to have a Zanpakutō, so there was at least some small blessing there.

"Sit upon the frozen heavens, Hyōrinmaru!" Hitsugaya called out, before promptly using his Shikai to send a few ice dragons at his Hollowified comrades.

"Dance, Sode no Shirayuki! Some no mai: Tsukishiro!" Rukia intoned, creating a pair of ice pillars that temporarily encased two or three of the Vizard – she was too busy running to look for details. She heard the pillars shatter with the terrifying screams of challenge, and pushed more reiatsu into her legs.

"We've got to get down to the next level!" Renji yelled.

"Well, we went down on the last level, maybe we have to head down again?" Hitsugaya suggested.

It was as good a thought as any, Yoruichi figured. "Hold your breath," she ordered Masaki, before diving beneath the waves, followed shortly thereafter by her companions. Sure enough, after a few painful seconds of wondering if they'd made mistake and would accidentally drown Masaki in the process of rescuing her, they broke through to the next level, but she couldn't sense Ichigo, Soifon or Kokutō here either.

Activating the beacon on her wrist again, Yoruichi spent a moment extending her spiritual sense, looking for a portal. Not sensing any, she sighed. "Still no good. Let's keep going. Down again," she ordered, and not a moment too soon. The second they moved, a very powerful Cero obliterated the spot they'd been standing. The Vizard had followed them!

It was only a short distance down this time, and the clash of combat was easily visible even from a distance. Soifon was fighting a short, ugly, hideously obese man who seemed absurdly light on his feet, and a huge muscle-bound giant. Kokutō appeared to be guarding the girls…

But Ichigo… Rukia shivered as she continued to run towards the battle. His Hollowified reiatsu practically exuded desperation and haste. But he hasn't used Resurrección... Her thoughts were abruptly interrupted when a Cero passed inches by her head. Shunpo-ing forward and up, Rukia twisted around in midair and brought Sode no Shirayuki to her shoulder, water in the air freezing into ice crystals and rising around her as she prepared her technique. "Tsugi no Mai: Hakuren!"

A huge wave of ice rushed into the Vizard, and when the reiatsu cleared, Rukia was extremely gratified to realize that she'd managed to entrap them all in an enormous block of near-opaque ice. But she could sense it would last only seconds… but there was someone who could extend that time a little. "Hitsugaya-taicho!"

"On it! Bankai!" With a burst of icy reiatsu, the diminutive taicho emerged in his Bankai form, ready to use his ice powers to their fullest. Between him and Rukia, their reiatsu was lowering the temperature of the air drastically. Flapping his ice wings, Hitsugaya lunged towards the rapidly-cracking ice and thrust Daiguren Hyōrinmaru into it. "Ryūsenka!"

The air abruptly went from merely cold to downright freezing as from the point of impact even more ice emerged from the point of impact and wrapped around the entire frozen structure, further entrapping the Hollowified Vizard.

"One thing left to do, and that's keep them out of the fight as long as possible. San no Mai: Shirafune," Rukia intoned. As Sode no Shirayuki absorbed the ice particles around Rukia and reforged itself, the heir to the Kuchiki gently pushed the tip of her Zanpakutō into the desert beneath her. A thin trail of ice crackled into existence across the sand, connecting Rukia to the prison that she and Hitsugaya had trapped the Vizard in. "Go, I'll maintain this until you get back."

"I'll stick around, just in case any more Togabito turn up," Renji volunteered, concerned.

"You two sure?" Yoruichi asked.

"I'm sure. Go help Ichigo!" Rukia ordered. "Humans can't last long here, remember? Ichigo's sisters probably don't have long left, and we can't afford to waste any time! I'll keep the Vizard here! Now GO!"

Hitsugaya nodded shortly, a glimmer of respect flickering in his eyes as he turned away from her and Shunpo-ed away. Yoruichi followed suit. As soon as they left, Rukia heaved a sigh and sat down. Shirafune always takes so much out of me… I hope they don't take too long.

Have faith in them, Rukia, Sode no Shirayuki advised. They are strong.

I know. I'm just worried about being trapped here… we don't know the spell to open the portal, and Urahara is either not receiving our signal, or is being attacked.

The ice structure cracked a little, and Rukia channeled more freezing energy into it. She knew she was lucky that Hitsugaya-taicho had been there to increase the power and reinforce her prison. Otherwise, the Vizard would surely have escaped by now. Though she wondered why none of them had thought of using Cero thus far to break out…

Rukia blinked and peered deeper into the ice. There was something strange going on, that was certain. None of them had been hit in any way by the Vizard's Hollow selves. Not even a scratch had been rendered. The improbability of that… I'm not even fukutaicho level, and they are taicho and fukutaicho level BEFORE Hollowification. And I shouldn't be able to hold them like this, unless they're not using their full strength… But they seem berserk. Rukia shook her head. Something just did not add up, but she had no idea what it could be.

Renji's thoughts were far simpler – he was in full-on combat mode, and was warily watching and listening for any sign the Vizard were breaking out, or if a Togabito was coming their way.

Hitsugaya and Yoruichi materialized with Masaki right next to Kokutō and the twins, gently but quickly shrugging Ichigo's mother off of her. Once more raising her wrist, Yoruichi pushed the button three times quickly. When nothing happened yet again, she sighed in frustration.

"What's wrong?" Kokutō asked.

"I'm not getting through," Yoruichi related. "I've been sending the signal, but we haven't felt any portals open. Can you get one open?"

The Togabito shook his head negatively. "I've already tried a few times. Someone or something has closed off Hell from the other dimensions."

"Damn it," Hitsugaya cursed. "There's got to be another way out!"

"I might have better luck on one of the higher levels of Hell," Kokutō suggested, though his tone said quite clearly that he didn't think that would be the case. "If that fails… well, we could break down the door, so to speak."

"What?"

"Destroy the Gates of Hell. They regenerate, so it wouldn't be permanent, but we could get an opening long enough for us to get through," Kokutō offered.

Yoruichi blinked. "Is there even enough power to destroy those gates?" she asked skeptically.

"If anyone has enough power, it's Ichigo," Kokutō stated simply.

And that, the Goddess of Flash could not refute. "Alright. Let's take care of the last of the enemies here, so we can get out of here."

"Go. I need to stay here to protect them, but you need to hurry," the bandaged man added. "Look at the girls."

Yoruichi did so, and frowned. Yuzu appeared unconscious, and breathing haggardly. Both Masaki and Karin were pale and weakly hugging.

"The air of Hell is lethal to everyone not of Hell themselves," Kokutō explained. "People with more reiatsu are better protected, but as you can see, Ichigo's family doesn't have long until they die and are damned to Hell themselves."

Yoruichi flickered away without another word, not caring as Hitsugaya volunteered to help protect the girls. Appearing behind the fat tub of lard that Soifon was fighting, Yoruichi was in no mood to play. "Shunkō!"

"What the…?" Taikon was hit by an incredibly powerful kick and went flying horizontally across the desert, just before Yoruichi proved her status as Goddess of Shunpo by flickering behind him and calmly, brutally swinging her Kidō-enhanced arm into and through his fat neck, instantly decapitating him and sending his head and body rocketing in different directions across the sands. A wordless blast of purple Kidō later, even those were incinerated.

Soifon took instant advantage of the new opportunity and within seconds, Garogai had been dispatched as well. There was not even a trace of his body remaining. "Yoruichi-sama!"

Her old taicho flickered next to her, without a trace of a smile. This was not the happy woman who loved to mess with her subordinates. This was the merciless leader of the Onmitsukidō, the ultimate assassin. "Come, Soifon!"

Without hesitation, Soifon nodded. "Hai!"

Mere moments later, they were just outside the range of Ichigo's fight with Shuren. "Ichigo!" Yoruichi called out sharply.

"Yoruichi! Is everyone ok?" Ichigo demanded, blasting away another powerful burst of flame with Tensa Zangetsu.

Yoruichi materialized next to Ichigo as Shuren leapt back, apparently trying to think of a better tactic. "We found your mother, and your sisters are out of the cage, but Kisuke isn't responding to the signal, and Kokutō can't open a portal to the living world due to some sort of interference. We need you to blast open the Gates of Hell up on the top level, and quickly. Your family won't last much longer here in Hell, so we'll need to move quickly."

Ichigo growled, a sound that made Soifon shiver as the Hollowification made his voice even more chilling. "Small problem. This bastard can resurrect Togabito from that pool. We leave him alone, he brings back everyone on his side, and then we have to fight them all over again."

"True, but right now I have other plans," Shuren cackled from a distance away. "Can't you feel it? Can't you hear it? The Kushanāda are coming!"

And suddenly, Ichigo could feel it, the enormous combined reiatsu of several… dozens… hundreds… No way, thousands of them? They were starting to float down from the sky, climb up from the sands, emerge from the far off cliffs… they were everywhere, as far as the eye could see!

"They can sense you, Kurosaki Ichigo! They know you have the power to shatter the bindings holding us to this wretched plane!" Shuren cried. "And they will eat everyone! If you will not free us, then you and your family will join us in Hell!" He rushed at Ichigo, who once more raised Tensa Zangetsu to slash against Shuren with a Getsuga-enhanced strike.

It shattered Shuren's flame sword and landed a glancing blow to his shoulder, but Shuren didn't seem to care. With his other hand, he suddenly had an orb of fire ready, which Shuren promptly thrust into Ichigo. The sphere exploded on impact, and Ichigo grunted in pain as he was sent flying up into the air, until he got his bearings and used the air-walk technique to launch himself back at Shuren. "Getsuga Tenshō!"

Shuren unleashed a torrent of flames that only just redirected the Getsuga to his side. The energy blast promptly cut through half a dozen Kushanāda. Ichigo blinked as he suddenly felt hundreds of eyes focus on him. Well, shit.

"ICHIGO!" Karin screamed out. Ichigo almost gave himself whiplash as he twisted to turn towards the sound. Hitsugaya was having a rough time, sending waves of ice daggers, firing ice dragons, and otherwise just doing his best to keep himself and his charges alive. Kokutō was fighting four Kushanāda who were apparently targeting him, and he was losing ground quickly. Suddenly, Kokutō's chains were materialized and gripped by two of the Kushanāda, and he was jerked up into the air, a third Kushanāda reaching with its enormous hand to grab him.

"Hadō 63: Raikōhō!" Yoruichi bellowed, sending lightning crashing down upon the Kushanāda, giving Kokutō just enough time to regain his balance and swipe down with his obsidian blade, cutting its head in half. But it had been enough to get Kokutō away from Ichigo's family, and Hitsugaya was suddenly cut off from being able to protect them, surrounded by several more Kushanāda.

"No!" Masaki cried out, leaping in front of her twin children. "You will not have them!"

Ichigo's eyes widened to their limits, and then shock gave way to action. In that moment, all other priorities were non-existent. He savagely ripped his Adjuchas mask into existence, flickering into Shunpo, only to be attacked by Shuren. Despite being engulfed in flames, Ichigo was hardly aware of Shuren's existence even as he sent the Togabito, who had attempted to blindside him through the fire, flying with a single powerful stroke of Tensa Zangetsu.

The flames vanished, but Ichigo paid it no mind as he made his way to Masaki as fast he could. He didn't notice that his mask was growing over his head, or that his hair was getting steadily longer, or that at his neck and wrists he now sported crimson tufts of hair. Several Kushanāda managed to get between him and the one that held his mother, but Ichigo was beyond all rationality.

Charging a Cero in his horns as his Shunpo gave way to Sonido, Ichigo let loose a powerful blast that obliterated every Kushanāda in front of him, even the one that held his mother. The hand that had gripped her was starting to fall, but Ichigo sliced off the fingers before Masaki could blink, freeing her.

Masaki blinked and looked up at her son – she'd suddenly been shifted to beneath his left arm, as his right was holding his Zanpakutō. But she was not prepared to see the mask of a Hollow on her darling Ichigo's face. If she did not know that her son was in there, Masaki knew she would be terrified.

"Ichigo?"

Ichigo screamed out a wordless challenge loud enough to echo in the vast desert of Hell, all reason and rationality gone, given way to the instinctual power he'd drawn on. Not far away, Rukia gasped as suddenly the ice that she'd been maintaining began to glow with a terrible light, and then it began to crack rapidly. "No!" She shunted more and more reiatsu into preserving the ice, but to no avail. With a unified scream, the Vizard shattered the icy prison they'd been in.

"Shit!" Renji swore and he and Rukia fell into defensive stances, but the various Hollowified Vizard did not seem to be interested in them. Instead, all of them vanished away at once in a burst of Sonido.

Soifon watched in silent terror as she watched Kurosaki Ichigo charge the trademark Hollow attack, and then a Cero more powerful than any she had ever conceived of erupted, disintegrating heads, arms, entire Kushanāda in front of him as a pulse of reiatsu blew the rest of them backwards – Soifon could barely breathe, let alone stand even from the distance she had put between them, and watched in horror as Kurosaki swung Tensa Zangetsu once, slaughtering hundreds more Kushanāda in the direction of his swing as an enormous Getsuga Tenshō ripped through them. Purple blood sprayed across the landscape, painting the sands of the desert with the remains of the Kushanāda.

And then the rest of the Vizard suddenly appeared a short distance behind Ichigo but in front of a shocked and terrified Karin, standing in a line. Again, Ichigo shrieked his rage. But it seemed that the wordless vocalization had meaning, as all seven of his Vizard companions took stances and began charging Cero. The Hollow that Ichigo had become lowered his horns and began charging one himself. And all eight of them fired with a unified bestial scream against the Kushanāda army. Another Cero rocketed from Ichigo's horns, this one a sustained beam of annihilation that Kurosaki moved with his head, utterly destroying countless more of the bearers of Hell's Will.

Fire and explosions rocked the wasteland as waves of Kushanāda ceased to be under the might of such power. Again, Ichigo screamed and they let loose a second volley, eradicating hundreds more.

Kokutō, Hitsugaya, Rukia and Renji rejoined Yoruichi and Soifon in the air above the scene, all but the Togabito watching in stark horror of the situation. Ichigo had completely Hollowified again, and once more he was no longer in control. His family was dying every second, and the two plans they'd had for escaping had failed. Urahara was unable to reach them, and Kokutō could not make a portal out.

But while the others were horrified, Kokutō was warring with himself. The Cero of eight very powerful Vizard would surely be more than sufficient to break his chains. But if he took the opportunity to be free from Hell, then there was no guarantee that he'd be able to open a portal out if whatever was interfering with his attempts was canceled. Who knew what would happen? It's not like anyone's actually escaped Hell before… I might just be reincarnated immediately after the chains are gone. I might ascend to Soul Society. Or Hell might try to rechain me. Who knows? All Kokutō knew was that he wanted freedom, but he also wanted to help Ichigo to save his family when Kokutō himself had failed.

A loud tremor on the earth below and in the cliff that he and Ichigo had climbed down attracted Kokutō's attention, just before his eyes opened wide in shock. He could sense the living world. "Oh Kami-sama…" Kokutō uttered, getting everyone else's attention. "The Gates! They're open!"