EPIC: Path of Demons and Dragons-Chapter 257: Intervention

"Impressive, Komamura-taichou! But it will take more than this to defeat me...!" bellowed Erza, sporting a broad smile as she endured the surprise attack of Komamura's released Zanpakuto, Tenken. When used, it created a giant, disembodied, armor-covered arm wielding a massive blade nearly twenty meters in length, but Erza was able to block its overhead strike by raising and crossing her swords. The ground cratered and melted beneath her, but it didn't change that she had withstood the blow.

'Such power...is this the influence of the Dragon's Pavilion...?' Komamura asked himself, gnashing his back teeth as he put all his strength into the blow. Unfortunately, after the momentum from his strike flowed through her and into the ground, Erza had little difficulty uncrossing her swords, forcefully deflecting his phantom blade into the air and knocking him off balance as the disembodied appendage echoed his movements and vice-versa.

Seeing Komamura lose his footing, Erza's eyes, which had turned purple after her reincarnation, flashed opportunistically as she revered her grip on the feather-like sword in her left hand. Then, producing several sonic cones that broke against her momentum, she moved like a vermillion flash of light, fully prepared to slice Komamura down before a sweeping curtain of pink sakura petals intercepted her.

"Hmmm...?"

Aided by her fiery Devil wings and Phoenix-feather mantle, Erza changed directions nigh-instantaneously, the heat and wind pressure of her initial charge and abrupt change in direction slamming into the curtain of petals with a loud metallic crash. Ordinary petals would have burnt, but the wall that had formed to block Erza's passage turned white hot, several melting into a molten liquid that was dispersed by the wind pressure.

"I understand the desire to protect your comrade, but Komamura-taichou and I were having a proper duel," remarked Erza, maintaining her smile as she reappeared on the opposite side of the crater Komamura's attack had formed to gaze up at her presumed next opponent, Byakuya, staring down at her impassively from atop the gate denoting the entrance to his team's fortress's inner courtyard.

"Flames that can burn the soul... you're dangerous..." remarked Byakuya, his eyes narrowing as the glowing pink petals he had scattered gathered at the emptied hilt of his Zanpakuto, reforming into a blade with notable wear.

"I have my Mistress to thank for that," stated Erza, her smile growing as she revealed, "Thanks to her, I gained the ability to emulate the flames of a Phoenix. And with this armor, my firepower and defenses are more than doubled so long as my flames continue to burn."

Waiting for Erza to finish speaking, Komamura, gritting his teeth, called out, "Kuchiki-taichou, I beseech you to stay out of this battle! As the one who issued the challenge, I cannot allow you to intercede!"

"Komamura-taichou challenged this woman to a duel...?" asked Byakuya, his narrowed gaze shifting to Komamura, accompanied by a slight furrow of his brows. Had Erza issued the challenge, he could have annulled it on the grounds she was invading their side's territory, but Komamura issuing it made the match a matter of the Gotei's reputation and his integrity as a Captain.

"Erza-dono is a proud and noble warrior who holds the distinguishment of being the Dragon's Pavilion's Knight," reminded Komamura, his expression and tone firm as he asserted, "It is my privilege to stand across her as her opponent..."

"I see..." muttered Byakuya, his tone neutral as he closed his eyes and executed a near-flawless Shunpo with minimal movements, disappearing without a trace. Erza briefly tensed upon seeing this, as she completely lost track of his presence, but since he didn't reappear even after several seconds, she correctly assumed he had gone elsewhere, leaving her and Komamura to continue their match without further disruption...

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After covering more than thirteen kilometers in a single step, Byakuya appeared atop a half-collapsed building near the edge of the battlefield between Xenovia, Hitsugaya, and Rangiku. He also noticed Lalatina, but as she was still frozen solid in a block of ice resembling a bamboo shoot, he focused his steely gaze on Xenovia or, more accurately, the aura around her body and her Balmung Adjudica.

'Another troublesome situation...' thought Byakuya, his generally relaxed grip on his Zanpakuto tightening as he considered the most suitable and efficient course of action. He was aware of the Gotei's situation thanks to his informant spectating the Rating Game, so he needed to act decisively and with poise to preserve the dignity of the Kuchiki and the Soul Society as a whole.

Since interfering in another Captain's fight so soon after being forced to step away from another would cause him to lose even more face, Byakuya observed the situation for a few moments longer before departing without revealing himself. He could tell at a glance that Hitsugaya and Matsumoto were on the verge of being overwhelmed, but if he interfered and failed to deal a decisive blow, the clans who vied for the Gotei's dissolution would gain traction. That left him with only one option...

With such thoughts in mind, Byakuya covered an additional seven and a half kilometers with a single Shunpo, placing him along the periphery of Kenpachi's clash with Issei and Sairaorg. It pained him to admit, but his scarred colleague's actions were the most optimal course to preserve the Gotei's dignity. Joining the battles against Erza and Xenovia when his side already had a numerical advantage could be seen as shameless, but if the situation were reversed—with him battling alone against multiple enemies—he could justify his likely defeat as the result of being outnumbered and disallowed the use of his Bankai.

'Exceptional timing...' thought Byakuya, his impassive gaze shifting to the inner court of the Dragon's Pavilion's fortress, where Yamato ran ahead of Asia, Ravel, Robin, and an unhurriedly trailing Frieren. So long as Issei and Sairaorg were still in play, he couldn't enter the inner court. But if he timed his appearance with the group leaving its bounds of their own accord, he could stem them from retreating per the Rating Game's prohibition against a strategy known as trapping...

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"Worry not, my comrades! Yamato comes to your aid...!" bellowed Yamato, full of energy after having her injuries treated by Asia and stuffing down a small banquet's worth of food to replenish her stamina.

"P-Please slow down, Yamato-san! You haven't fully recovered...!" cried Asia, sporting an anxious expression. She had no trouble keeping up with Yamato thanks to her near-daily training with the Maid Battalion, but she couldn't help worrying when one of her patients suddenly got up and took off—refusing to listen.

"Worry not, Asia-san! I'll have plenty of time to rest and recuperate once the Rating Game has concluded! Now is the time for action...!" responded Yamato, her uninhibited laughter echoing throughout the inner courtyard until she exited through its gate.

Forcing Yamato to grind to a halt, literally skidding several meters on the back teeth of her geta, Byakuya appeared before her, his expression stoic and his tone calm but final as he declared, "You and your allies will go no further."

"Ah, if it isn't Kuchiki-taichou!" chimed Yamato, beaming as she held her kanabo like a baseball bat and happily exclaimed, "Let us both give it our all...!" while swinging it with enough force to produce a horizontal vortex that tore up the ground and traveled forward with extreme speed.

fwsh

After vanishing from Yamato's view, Byakuya reappeared right in front of her, his eyes widening ever so slightly due to the rather drastic disparity in their heights.

"Hmm!?"

Noticing Byakuya's presence, Yamato attempted to grab him by his white scarf, but the raven-haired Captain's Shunpo was nearly as immaculate as Sui-Feng's, his form disappearing as two near-simultaneous sensations of heat permeated her abdomen and back.

'What was that sensation...?' Byakuya asked himself, simultaneously using Shunpo to evade as Yamato spun around and swung her kanabo with tremendous speed, force, and wind pressure. The technique he had used was supposed to incapacitate and inhibit the target's use of Reiryoku, but as the tip of his Zanpakuto pierced Yamato's abdomen and lower back, he felt he was stabbing a solid metal cube.

"Your speed is impressive, Kuchiki-taichou! But I, Yamato, Guardian Deity of Wano and Loyal Hound of the Dragon God, won't be defeated easily...!" bellowed Yamato, her teeth rapidly elongating into sharp fangs, her ears growing to long points, her hair forming into a wavy mane tipped with icy blue flames, and snow-white fur growing across her body as her legs became digitigrade in structure and a thick, fluffy, icy-blue, flame-tipped tail emerged from her lower back.

'Her Reiatsu has multiplied...' noted Byakuya, his expression calm even as dark purple lightning ripped through where he had been standing, forcing him to evade using Shunpo. When he reappeared, he looked at where the lightning had originated, his eyes reflecting Frieren's diminutive frame and equally poised expression as she aimed her staff at him and unleashed six beams of gaseous, highly compressed, luminous, dark purple energy that cut through the air like lasers but much slower.

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With Ravel and Asia joining in with Frieren's bombardment, discharging homing balls of flame and holy energy, Byakuya abruptly found himself on the back foot, using Shunpo consecutively to evade their attacks. He tried countering with several chantless instances of Hado #4, Byakurai, but his attacks were thwarted by a thin but remarkably durable barrier of golden light that only appeared when struck.

'Hmmm...?'

Noticing sakura blossoms converging toward him like a gathering vortex, Byakuya couldn't prevent a faint frown from marring his countenance as he felt the phenomenon was intended to provoke or confuse him. Instead, it was Robin utilizing the power of her Devil Fruit, the Hana Hana no Mi, to encircle him with a small army of clones.

Crossing their arms simultaneously, the nearly one hundred clones of Robin caused Byakuya's eyes to narrow as they sonorously chorused, "Millon Fleur, Senbonzakura no Mai(Cascading Dance of Innumerable Cherry Blossoms)!"

In response to the clones' cry, a colossal vortex of Haki-infused cherry blossoms more than sixty meters in diameter and nearly a kilometer tall enveloped Byakuya. The scale of the technique was such that the actual Robin's legs gave out beneath her, but Asia quickly caught and supported her, preventing her from collapsing to the ground.

Further contributing to Byakuya's plight, Ravel extended her hands and unleashed a torrent of bright orange flames that intermingled and rapidly spread through the swirling petals, forming a tornado of flame straight out of a disaster movie. The temperature of the fiery vortex easily exceeded 5,000°C, so anything living and without adequate protection would perish nigh-instantaneously within the inferno.

"Did we get him...?" asked Yamato, rejoining the group with a slight frown as she had been looking forward to battling Byakuya herself. Their joining hands against him in a team competition made sense, but she would have preferred to face him honorably, one-against-one.

"Kuchiki Byakuya is one of the Gotei's most knowledgeable and skilled Captains," stated Ravel, her expression focused and determined as she contended, "If he could be defeated this easily, the Gotei and the Noble Houses would have fallen long ago..."

As if to give credence to Ravel's reasoning, a shift occurred within the weakening inferno, its base collapsing inward as if being drawn in by a powerful vacuum. Seconds later, Byakuya came into view, standing with his head bowed and left index and middle fingers forming a half-ram seal as he guided the flames from the vortex into a large pot with the Kanji for fire painted on the side. More importantly, he didn't appear to be injured in the slightest, largely in part due to the watery blue aura enveloping his body like luminous blue gas.

With most of the flames forming the inferno's base drawn into the jar, Byakuya made a slicing gesture with his fingers, causing it to become capped and sealed by cloth and red rope. Then, opening his eyes and raising his gaze, he stared impassively at the gathering of five women before raising his Zanpakuto in a prayer stance and muttering, "Scatter, Senbonzakura..."

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