Lisa's mocking laugh echoed in the void. "Stupid fool. Did you really not get my Resurrección ability? Your prison is my playground. I'll kill myself if you touch a single hair on my head."
A moment of silence ensued as he tried to grasp a way to kill her without undoing his Bankai release.
"Your friends fled to the living world instead of facing judgment. They pathetically bowed under the corrupt system that condemned them to death. Now, you—" He pointed his sword forward, retaliating with words now that his sword couldn't find her. "—abandoned every scrap of honor you had left. I pity you, Lisa Yadoaru—I pity your misguided comrades! If I'd known how far you'd fallen, I would've hunted you down myself! None of you deserve to breathe for turning into the monsters you once swore to fight!"
Silence. Crushing, absolute silence. Even Lisa's presence seemed to pull back, leaving Tōsen alone in his perfect void.
For several heartbeats, nothing moved.
Then the shadows exploded into motion, racing toward the single spot where Tōsen stood.
As darkness swallowed him completely, Lisa burst from the shadows right in his face. "BASTARD, I'll kill you!"
Tōsen's lips curved into the faintest, coldest smile. Emotions—easiest weakness to exploit. His blade lunged for her heart. A silent strike that would end this forever. A sense of victory sparked in his calm, sightless eyes.
As if he'd ever lose to an abomination after being hand-picked by Aizen. He served a higher purpose, to radically shift the world, to free Soul Society from corruption, to abolish the long-standing unchecked power of nobles.
—To purge filth like Tokinada Tsunayashiro, who could get away with murdering someone from Rukongai without a single consequence and even boast about it.
What happened next froze that feeling of triumph into ice.
Lisa hadn't retreated into the shadows, which was to be expected as she couldn't see anything. But somehow she twisted her torso right as the blade pierced her chest. The Zanpakutō went through the right side instead of her heart.
She dodged a lethal attack.
"Dammit," Lisa grunted, hot blood spilling from her lips. At the same time, her right blade-arm swept out, and by coincidence its edge touched the flat of Suzumushi's blade.
Contact.
All senses flooded back into Lisa.
Clear aquamarine eyes gleamed as her helmet split down the middle, showing her face—and a cold smile. "So, this is your weakness."
Tōsen instinctively tried to flash step away, to regroup, and to rethink his approach. However, dozens of ghostly, clawed hands shot forth from beneath and wrapped around his arms, legs, and throat.
He roared and unleashed a blast of spiritual energy, slashing wildly with his free hand. But every shadow limb he cut down, two more burst from the ground. They were endless.
He had only one choice. With a guttural scream, Tōsen poured his spiritual energy to shatter the dome of Mumyō. The ten inscribed rings dissolved. The black dome imploded. Even the ceiling was destroyed. Moonlight flooded back in, combined with the artificial light in Las Noches' corridors.
Lisa's Resurrección became incredibly powerful within complete darkness. It also lost its advantage in light.
Lisa smirked. The darkness hadn't vanished entirely. It pooled and concentrated in the one place light could never reach.
Her enemy's own shadow.
The ghostly hands—now visible as claws of writing black smoke—gripped him tight. His reiatsu burst outward, as he poured massive spiritual energy in each slash of his Zanpakutō. It was a futile struggle. The claws dug deeper, drawing fresh blood.
"You can deal with the darkness of Mumyō, but you can't deal with your own shadow," Lisa said with a chuckle. "The man who lived his whole life in darkness… to be dragged into hell by his own. How ironic."
Tōsen watched as Lisa's blade-arm moved for the killing stroke. With the last of his strength, fueled by fear of death, he jerked his head aside at the last second. The thrust that should have pierced his throat carved through his shoulder instead, nearly cutting his arm off. Blood sprayed across the ground in a red arc.
Tōsen yanked his dangling arm, grimacing from pain. "Darkness, it's all I have ever known… It's the fate of being born without eyes. You'll never understand me."
"I don't want to understand you. I just want to slowly kill you."
Even though Tōsen couldn't see, he knew the second slash was already coming. His remaining arm weakly swatted at the shadow claws, but it was useless. His Reiatsu wasn't endlessly deep like Aizen, nor could his regeneration compare to a Hollow.
Another slash struck its mark, carving a deep wound on him, and then another.
Lisa showed no emotions while striking a helpless Tōsen. As far as she knew, this was an enemy. Showing mercy to the enemy was the same as condemning her loved ones to death, because Aizen would never show mercy to anyone. So will Tōsen. Regardless of the reasons, they were two twisted men, who would stoop to any level.
Soon, Tōsen's movements grew sluggish. The moment he showed weakness, the shadowy claws overwhelmed him. They coiled around his limbs, his body, his neck—tightening like living vines. He couldn't breathe. He couldn't move.
"Kaname Tōsen… goodbye."
Her blade arm moved. A simple, clean motion. There was no strength left in Tōsen to dodge, nowhere for him to run. The blade passed through his neck in one clean cut.
Lisa's shadow arms pulled back and disintegrated. Tōsen crashed to his knees. His senses faded fast, the world shrinking to a domain of ice.
As he felt his dying pulse, his mind suddenly became crystal clear.
Memories of centuries ago resurfaced: a hilltop near a Rukongai village, sitting beneath the starry sky, and a warm presence accompanying him.
"I love the night sky, Kaname. It reminds me of the world. Everything's covered in darkness. There are tiny points of light everywhere, but the clouds try to cover them up."
"You see, Kaname, I want to clear away those clouds so that not a single light is hidden. I'm going to clear away those clouds, Kaname."
The woman who had looked up at the stars and said those words had eventually fulfilled her dream. She had obtained the power and position to protect the world's light as a Soul Reaper.
Soul Reapers were the foundation of everything in the Soul Society—they led the inhabitants of the world of the living here and maintained the cycle of souls.
They drove away the 'evil souls' called Hollows.
She had been given the right to literally protect the stars. But although her dream had come true, she had not been able to take her next steps.
…He snuffed out her light.
"Kakyō… what was I supposed to do?"
A sense of helplessness filled Tōsen. The Central 46 failed him. He wasn't even allowed to step foot inside Seireitei as a commoner. He could not even avenge her with his own hands due to her gentle character.
The darkness that had claimed his eyes lifted. Before him stood a woman with kind eyes and a gentle smile—Kakyō, his dearest friend.
His burning hatred for a world that stole her light melted away with a single glimpse.
His spiritual form crumbled bit by bit before scattering away into ashes.
A/N: RIP Tosen
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