An Arcanist in Karakura Town 30 (Patreon)

An Arcanist in Karakura Town
Chapter 30

-VB-

Aizen struck first.

Like I expected.

Or rather, like how every enterprising villain should. Like COME ON, pre-emptive slash probing attacks are not just basic but nearly mandatory! It was logical! If it succeeded, then great, the enemies lost manpower. If it didn’t succeed, then as long as it wasn’t a complete loss, Aizen gained intelligence.

When I read this part of Bleach, I always wondered why Aizen would send the arrancar to fight the shinigamis. Initially, I thought that it was to draw out the Visored and look for any other stationed troops. After all, Soul Society still considered them to be “exiled” and to be “executed on sight” for being hollow-shinigami hybrids. If he managed to draw them out before the big battle, then he would force the shinigamis and the visoreds to confront each other.

Of course, I was very young when I thought this and completely didn’t take into account the fact that plot holes were a thing.

Like how, in my world, Oda Nobunaga was in prime position to take over Sengoku Japan because his last rival, Uesugi Kenshin - the man still worshipped to this day as a war god - just died.

Plot holes in reality, ya know?

So the first arrancar invasion could be just a plot hole for Bleach.

And then I remembered that Aizen didn’t order Grimmjow and his crew to attack Karakura Town - which was what Tosen said when he came to retrieve Grimmjow (but Aizen wasn’t even mad about losing manpower, so was Aizen expecting Grimmjow to attack and let him do it, but what reason was it for-? UGGGHHH?????) - because the manipulator knew that Grimmjow and his crew wasn’t strong enough to take on whatever Gotei 13 would place in the town. So no, it wasn’t a plot hole.

Case in point, I was right now feeling four or so of Hollow-like spiritual presences which had blanketed the town in their malevolence disappear after intense fighting.

Whatever.

I just had to kill Grimmjow, the last arrancar in the town, to weaken Aizen’s position, but because right now, I was just a random magician with a very strong base as far as anyone was concerned, killing Grimmjow would result in people starting to scrutinize me.

Hell, I didn’t know the extent of my power when compared to the arrancars and the shinigami’s top tier fighters. I wasn’t even sure if all of my research and work would work against Grimmjow, but the arrogant and megalomaniac arrancar presented a really juicy case study on exactly how effective my magecraft spells and parahuman powers would be!

I just couldn’t let it go.

I had science to do.

-VB-

“You call that a bankai?!”

Hovering high above the street, Grimjow stared down at the supposedly “strong” shinigami-human.

Except he didn’t turn out to be strong or fast, just on par with the average arrancar.

‘This is fucking disappointing,’ the Sexta Espada thought, disgruntled. He was about to look away from the cloud of dust … when four trails of black energy burst forth from it, spinning lazily but no less malevolently.

The dust clouds blew away, and the shinigami-human stood there with his sword brimming with reiatsu and ready to attack.

“Getsuga-!”

Grimmjow instinctively crossed his arms at the sudden burst of reiatsu.

“-Tensho!”

Whatever it was, it struck him true and exploded.

“HAHAHA!” he laughed. Alright, so he underestimated the brat! Who the fuck cares?! “You’re finally worth killing-!”

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He froze when he heard those droning low-pitched hums. He whirled around and -.

---

Ichigo shielded his face as the world in front of him exploded in a white flash.

The air shook but nothing else around them moved.

And Grimmjow…

He was stone.

And then the stone cracked.

With a burst of power, the entire stone surrounding Gimmjow’s still form shattered, and a very badly burned and raging Grimmjow emerged from the stone statue.

“What… the … fuck… was that?!” he roared.

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“HELL NO!” Grimmjow used sonido and dodged.

Where he used to be exploded into white flash again, but nothing else changed.

“What the …” Ichigo muttered.

Grimmjow whirled around, looking for whomever was attacking him.

Ichigo, however, recognized that kind of attack from before. While Grimmjow might have been too focused on him to see what they were, Ichigo saw them.

They were small steel balls with some kind of writing engraved in them much like what he saw from that magician.

Grimmjow dodged again as more appeared, but he was slower now. Definitely weaker.

Ichigo took the chance.

“Getsuga Tensho!” he roared as he sent off another attack just as Grimmjow appeared from his latest dodge.

Grimmjow saw it-.

BOOOOOMMM!

Dust cloud formed from where the attack struck him… but then as it disappeared, someone else stood there in front of Grimmjow.

“Tosen…!” Ichigo muttered as he saw the blind traitor captain.

“... We’re leaving, Grimmjow,” he said as a garganta opened behind them. He was wary.

And he was right to be wary, because another set of five steel balls appeared, phasing into reality.

And Tosen cut them all apart in one quick stroke before jumping into the garganta with Grimmjow in tow.

“I’ll get you next time!” Grimmjow shouted as the scar in reality began to close. “Next time-!” the arrancar roared. “I’LL KILL YOU!”

The garganta closed shut with a thunderous slam and disappeared.

Ichigo stared up at the spot in the sky where Grimmjow was last standing.

This didn’t feel like a victory.

---

From within my warehouse fortress, I hummed.

My teleport petrification bombs - because boo hoo landmines are a war crime - was a success. Sure, it didn’t kill Grimmjow, but it stripped the arrancar of his skin and the hierro, an arrancar’s natural defense.

If it worked on an Espada, then it would work on the Numeros.

I grinned gleefully.

I had more bombs to make.