chapter 307

Chapter 307:

– Layla –

I followed Isane, Captain Unohana’s lieutenant, through the Squad 4 barracks. She was giving me a tour, and while I appreciated her effort, I would’ve much preferred if the Captain herself had been the one to show me around. Unfortunately, Unohana got pulled away to some important captains' meeting almost as soon as we arrived…

“This is one of our main treatment rooms,” Isane said, sliding open a paper-thin door with that gentle professionalism she had. “We don’t usually get patients with serious injuries unless it’s a rare Hollow attack or someone went too hard during sparring. For example, Kentaro over there—he’s from Squad 11 of course—got his hand chopped off yesterday. The Captain hasn’t had time to reattach it yet.” She gestured toward a one-armed man sitting on one of the beds, glaring at everyone in sight.

“Why the hell is everyone in this pansy squad so useless?!” he barked at one of the nurses nearby. “It’s just a freaking hand! Can’t you just tape it back on or something?!”

I raised an eyebrow and glanced at Isane. “Tape it back on?”

She sighed, the kind of sigh that said she’d been through this routine countless times. “Yes. Members of Squad 11 are… not the brightest. You wouldn’t believe how often they try to heal cuts and scrapes by rubbing dirt on them, only to show up here a couple of weeks later with green, infected wounds.”

[It’s weird how everyone here is a spiritual being, yet they still get sick and injured.]

‘Yeah,’ I said internally. ‘This universe doesn’t make much sense…’

Although, I suppose it doesn't really need to because it has cool weapons. And that's all that matters.

Meanwhile, the poor nurse was still getting screamed at by the rude shinigami. I rolled my eyes, deciding to step in. Summoning my Purger of Darkness Sacred Gear, I waved my hand toward the guy’s stump. A flash of purple light later, and voilà—a brand-new hand appeared where his old one used to be.

The man stared at his hand for a moment, flexing his fingers, then grinned widely. “Now that’s what I’m talking about! That’s some top-tier service right there!” He turned to me, his grin turning sleazy. “Well, hello there, beautiful. I don’t think I’ve seen you around before. What’s your name, gorgeous?”

Isane cleared her throat, stepping forward before I could respond. “This is Layla of the Fallen. She just defeated the Head Captain in combat. While he was using his Bankai.”

The guy froze, color draining from his face. The nurse standing nearby gasped audibly.

“Uh… well…” He backed away slowly. “...Would you look at the time? I, uh… I have something else to do. Thanks for the hand! Bye!” Without another word, he turned and leapt through the window. I heard a loud crash followed by a groan of pain.

“He better not have landed on the Captain’s new flower pots!” Isane huffed. Her face twisted in frustration, and, without so much as a word to me, she dove out the window after him. A second later, I could hear her yelling at the guy.

I turned toward the random nurse still standing in the room and gave her my best attempt at a friendly smile. “So,” I said awkwardly. “How’s it going?”

Her eyes rolled back, and she fainted on the spot, collapsing onto one of the empty beds.

“Okay then,” I muttered, mostly to myself. It seemed like I was going to have to find a way to entertain myself while waiting for Unohana to finish whatever captain-y thing she was doing. Given how scared most of the Soul Society seemed to be of me now, I figured I might have better luck back in the World of the Living.

I still had a couple of hours to kill. Why not?

…

I opened a portal back to Urahara Kisuke’s fake candy shop and stepped through. Everyone inside stared at me with wide eyes.

“Layla… you’re back… yay…” Yoruichi said. Her voice sounded unenthusiastic, and it was obvious she wasn’t happy to see me.

It made me frown. I crossed my arms, feeling a little disappointed. At least she was in her human form again. That was nice, though it was disappointing she’d decided to wear clothes this time. I smiled at everyone, deciding to ignore Yoruichi’s less than enthusiastic reaction to my arrival back here.

“I thought I’d stop by. I’ve got nothing to do in the Soul Society right now. Everyone’s afraid of me, and I’m just waiting for the Head Captain to get in touch with the zanpakutō guy for me.”

Kisuke dropped his fan. It hit the floor with a loud smack. “The Head Captain is helping you? How did you manage that?” he asked in disbelief.

I shrugged. “I had to give him a good ol’ ass-kicking first. Once he couldn’t beat me with his Bankai, he didn’t really have a choice.”

Yoruichi’s eyes went wide. “Wait, you fought the Head Captain? And you beat him while he was using his Bankai?”

Before I could answer, Ichigo Kurosaki spoke up. “You saw that old farts Bankai!? What was it like? Was it cool!?”

I turned toward him. “Oh, hey, Carrot Top. I didn’t notice you there. Sorry about what happened between me and your friends earlier. I’ve learned to keep my aura under control now, so stuff like that won’t happen again. Are they okay?”

Ichigo sighed and scratched his head. “Yeah, Orihime checked on them. They’re fine, just knocked out. I’m sorry for attacking you too. I thought I got a lot stronger after all the stuff with Ginjo, but you took me down so fast it was embarrassing.”

Yoruichi scoffed. “Did you not hear what she just said, Ichigo? She beat the Head Captain while he was using his Bankai. Not even Aizen had the guts to do something like that.”

Kisuke adjusted his hat, looking at me like he didn’t know what to say. “You are… a very interesting person–being, Miss Layla. But I'm surprised I didn’t hear anything about your battle with Yamamoto. Is the Soul Society still standing…?”

I waved him off. “It’s fine. I fixed everything after. No big deal.”

Kisuke looked like he had more questions, but I wasn’t interested in answering them. Instead, I leaned against the counter. “Anything interesting going on here? I’ve got a few hours to kill before Unohana gets back from the emergency Captains’ meeting. I’m pretty sure it’s about me…”

Kisuke adjusted his hat and gave me a sly smile. “As a matter of fact, there is something interesting going on.”

“Wait, what? Are you seriously bringing the random woman into this?” Ichigo asked, pointing at me like I wasn’t standing right there.

I crossed my arms and pouted. “The random woman has a name, you know. It’s Layla. Layla of the Fallen, the most awesomest and powerful Fallen Angel you’ll ever meet.” I gave him a peace sign as all sixteen of my wings burst out of my back. Explosions started going off in the background, thanks to my new reality-manipulating powers. The shop shook a little, which I thought added to the effect.

[You trying to copy Serafall’s shtick now?]

‘Was it cool?’ I asked internally, still holding the pose.

[Meh… five out of ten at best.]

I huffed and dismissed the explosions.

The teenager looked a little impressed, at least. That was a win in my book. “I didn’t think angels were a thing too,” Ichigo said, rubbing his chin. “But I guess it makes sense. Hell is obviously real.”

“Obviously,” I said, rolling my eyes. At least he accepted it without an argument.

Ichigo glanced at Kisuke. “Anyway, I was just about to head out and meet up with my friends. We’ve got more Hollows to deal with.”

Kisuke nodded. “The Hollows have been acting strangely these past few weeks.”

I nodded along like I knew what that meant. To me, Hollows were just the bad guys in Bleach who ate and killed people. When weren’t they acting strange?

“There’s a large group amassing north of Karakura Town,” Kisuke continued, “and a smaller group to the south.”

“I’ll take the north with my friends,” Ichigo said immediately, his face already set in determination. Then, like clockwork, Kisuke, Yoruichi, and Ichigo all turned to look at me.

“You came here because you were bored, right?” Yoruichi said smugly. “Make yourself useful and take care of the Hollows to the south.”

I crossed my arms under my chest and pouted. “Fine…”

Before I could head out, Kisuke held up a hand. “Actually, it might be a good idea for Yoruichi to go with you.”

“What!?” Yoruichi blurted. “I’m sure the angel will be fine on her own—”

“That’s a great idea, Hat and Clogs!” I said, cutting her off with a grin. “Those Hollows might be too much for me on my own, and I’d love to have the protection of a beautiful and sexy catgirl with me.”

Ichigo looked horrified. “Eww… you’re flirting with this shameless cat? Nope, I’m out.” Without waiting for a reply, he bolted out of the shop like the place was on fire.

I scoffed. “Virgins. They don’t recognize a nice piece of ass when they see it.”

Yoruichi actually laughed. “You’re not wrong,” she said, but then her face changed as she realized I was talking about her. A blush crept across her cheeks, standing out against her dark skin. She cleared her throat. “Watch it with those comments, angel. The only one who gets to talk about my sexy ass is me.”

Kisuke groaned and rubbed his temples like he was trying to make us disappear by sheer willpower. “Please, both of you, just leave my shop.... I have data to analyze and need to figure out what’s going on with the Hollows.”

…

Yoruichi and I moved quickly across Karakura Town, heading to the south side of the city. She was flash-stepping, disappearing and reappearing in bursts of speed, while I flew alongside her, keeping up with no effort.

I had to admit, I was excited. Seeing a Hollow in real life was something I never thought I’d get to do. Watching them in Bleach was one thing, but being here, where they actually existed, was different. I wanted to see how accurate the anime was—or how much it left out.

As we reached the south side, a loud, demented roar cut through the air. It was high-pitched and distorted, like something out of a horror movie. My eyes immediately turned toward the source of the sound.

“There,” I said, pointing to a rooftop.

A Hollow sat on top of some random person’s house. Its mask was white with black lines running across it, and its body was a weird mix of a spider and a turtle. Its legs were long and spindly, but it also had a bulky shell covering its back. It was screaming at nothing, its voice echoing through the neighborhood.

“I got this,” I said confidently, summoning my Lightspear. The new version vibrated with raw power in my hand. I shot forward, diving from the sky straight toward the Hollow. It didn’t even move to defend itself as I drove the spear into its body. The tip pierced straight through, and the shell on its back didn’t do anything to stop me. The Hollow let out one last shriek before it burst apart in a flash of purple light. I pulled back and hovered above the roof, watching as the light faded.

Dozens of glowing human souls spilled out of the Hollow’s body. They moved in different directions—some floated up toward the sky, others sank down toward the ground, and a few lingered around for a few seconds before I felt them start to fade. I could sense them heading toward the Soul Society.

The ones going down were definitely heading to Hell. That much was obvious. But the ones going up caught my attention. Where did they go? Did this universe have other afterlife destinations besides the Soul Society? It would make sense. If every single soul ended up there, the place would’ve been overcrowded ages ago.

I decided I could think about it later. Or not. It wasn’t like I needed to know.

Yoruichi landed next to me, crossing her arms over her chest. She looked at the spot where the Hollow had been, then at me. “Wow,” she said sarcastically. “You really needed my protection for that terrifying Hollow…”

I turned to her, grinning. “Hey, you never know. Maybe the next one will put up a fight.”

She rolled her eyes. “Don’t hold your breath.”

I smirked, dismissing my spear. “That was almost too easy. The thing was barely sentient. Are they all like this?”

Yoruichi sighed. “Hollows used to be a rare thing, you know. Before Ichigo got his powers, we’d only see one every few weeks. Now, we’re dealing with over a dozen a day. The kid and his friends just attract trouble.”

“That sucks,” I said honestly. I could literally see him and his friends fighting on the other side of the city. With my enhanced vision, I watched them going head-to-head with what looked like a hundred Hollows at once. They were handling it, sure, but if this was a regular thing, it meant someone had to constantly watch over this town. That was fine when they were all in highschool, but what about when they graduated and wanted to go to college?

Without me needing to ask that out loud, Yoruichi nodded. “Kisuke’s been working on a barrier to lower the number of Hollows attracted to this town,” she explained. “So far, nothing’s worked. Their method of ripping holes in dimensions makes it nearly impossible to stop them. But Kisuke’s sure he’s close.”

Before I could say anything else, a voice called out behind us. “Why bother going through all that trouble when the simple solution is to slaughter them all en masse until there’s none left?”

Yoruichi stiffened, her body tensing as she turned toward the voice. I wasn’t as shocked. I kept my senses reeled in to avoid overwhelming the sensitive people in this universe, so someone sneaking up wasn’t a surprise. I turned in the air and saw a man walking toward us. He was dressed entirely in white, his uniform sharp and clean as he walked on the air like it was solid ground. His eyes gleamed with arrogance as he approached.

“A Quincy?” Yoruichi said aloud, her voice low. “I thought Uryū and his father were the last of them.”

The man grinned, and it wasn’t a friendly grin. “There are more of us than just those leftovers you mentioned. Far more. Some of us are even worthy of the Wandenreich, unlike them.”

“Wandenreich?” I repeated, glancing at Yoruichi.

She didn’t look away from the man, her golden eyes narrowing. “They’re supposed to be gone. The Quincy were wiped out, and the Wandenreich disappeared with them.”

The man chuckled, clearly enjoying being all dramatic. Uryū was like that in the anime, were all Quincy’s like this?

[Probably…]

“That’s what you were led to believe. We’ve been hiding, growing stronger, waiting for the right time. And now it’s here! The time for our beautiful war of justice and vengeance! I’ve been sent here to kill you Yoruichi Shihouin!”

The man turned his attention to me, glaring with all the arrogance in the world. “I don’t know who you are, stranger, but you’ll have to die as well. All the Shinigami and their allies will henceforth be exterminated. Our declaration of war is being delivered to the Soul Society as we speak!”

“It is?” I tilted my head. “I should probably get back there and help…” I muttered, mostly to myself.

Before I could do anything, Yoruichi powered up with a sudden shout. “Shunko!” A powerful white aura exploded out of her back like a wave of energy. In the blink of an eye, she blurred across the sky and delivered a devastating punch to the Quincy’s gut. He was launched backward, smashing through several buildings in the distance.

Immediately, I started hearing humans on the ground freaking out.

“Another gas explosion!?”

“Why does this happen so much in this freaking town!?”

“I knew we should’ve moved after that gas leak two years ago knocked everyone out!”

I sweatdropped at the comments. It seemed like the humans in real life were a lot more aware of all the crazy stuff happening in Karakura Town than they were in the anime. Not wanting to leave the damage unchecked, I flexed my powers over reality. The destroyed buildings started fixing themselves, and I forcefully teleported all the humans in the immediate area a few kilometers away to keep them safe.

[The Reality Stone is really OP…]

“It sure as hell is,” I said with a chuckle.

More explosions went off a few blocks away as Yoruichi and the Quincy continued their fight. I hovered nearby, watching the action. It didn’t take a genius to see who was going to win. Yoruichi was dominating him. Every time he tried to use his glowing blue bow, she would close the distance and knock it away before delivering more brutal body shots. The only thing keeping him alive was some kind of shimmering blue barrier just above his skin. It seemed to protect him from fatal damage, but it wasn’t going to last forever.

“Try these, Yoruichi!” I shouted, using Creation of All Things to conjure a pair of chakra metal gauntlets. I tossed them over to her, and she caught them mid-air.

The Quincy, already bleeding and clearly struggling, still managed to sneer at me. “Some pathetic weapon that isn’t even a zanpakutō won’t help you defeat me! I was sent here specifically to kill you, Yoruichi Shihouin!”

“You already said that, asshole,” Yoruichi scoffed. She slipped on the gauntlets and knocked them together, smirking. “These have some nice weight to them. I’m trusting you here, Angel. Don’t let me down!” She disappeared in a flash step, reappearing in front of the Quincy. He threw his reinforced arms up to block her punch, but as I’d expected, the chakra metal gauntlets tore through his barrier like it wasn’t even there. There was a loud crunch as his arms snapped, and he screamed in shock and pain. “Oh, hell yeah!” Yoruichi cheered before landing another punch. This time, a few ribs broke. She didn’t stop. Every time he tried to fight back, she was faster, stronger, and relentless.

The Quincy cried out something about how his “Blut Vene” wasn’t working, but soon he couldn’t say anything else. Yoruichi shattered his jaw with one hit, followed by his spine with another. He fell unconscious and started plummeting from the sky, but Yoruichi caught him by the collar before he could hit the ground.

She flew back to me, holding his limp body like a trophy. “I’m sure Kisuke will be proud of me for taking this guy alive! Maybe he’ll stop hiding all my catnip!”

XXX